Towards Usable E-Health. A Systematic Review of Usability Questionnaires

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Usability Engineering

Background:

• E-health tools offer significant healthcare benefits, but their effectiveness is contingent on user-friendliness.
• Assessing e-health usability requires rigorously developed and appropriate measurement tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically identify and evaluate psychometrically sound questionnaires for measuring e-health tool usability.
• To appraise the generalizability, attribute coverage, and overall quality of these usability measurement instruments.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature review was conducted across four major databases (Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL, HAPI).
• Studies were included if they measured e-health usability using validated questionnaires, excluding non-primary research and specific populations.
• Data extraction focused on questionnaire characteristics, psychometrics, and quality appraisal.

Main Results:

• Out of 35 included articles, 15 unique questionnaires were identified, with only 5 deemed broadly applicable.
• Key usability attributes assessed were learnability, efficiency, and satisfaction; memorability was least covered.
• Quality appraisal revealed common limitations including insufficient validity testing, small sample sizes, and lack of reporting on user-centeredness and feasibility.

Conclusions:

• Current questionnaires offer a basis for e-health usability research.
• Future development should aim to enhance the coverage of usability attributes and strengthen the psychometric properties of existing instruments.