Applying Human-Centered Design to the Development of an Asthma Essentials Kit for School-Aged Children and Their...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Health
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Health Intervention Design

Background:

• Asthma management in children requires effective tools for shared decision-making between parents and children.
• Existing interventions may not adequately address the practical needs and psychosocial aspects of managing childhood asthma.
• A human-centered design approach can yield user-centric solutions for chronic condition management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate an asthma essentials kit tailored for parent-child shared asthma management.
• To identify and address key user priorities in developing asthma management tools.
• To assess the usability and acceptability of prototype asthma essentials kit concepts.

Main Methods:

• A human-centered design process involving generative and evaluative phases.
• Iterative analysis informed by user needs and feedback throughout development.
• Usability and acceptability testing of concept prototypes with children and parents.

Main Results:

• The asthma essentials kit addressed user-identified priorities: roles, normalcy, and shared management.
• Prototypes included a to-go bag, cue card, wearable device, and mobile health application.
• Testing confirmed high usability, acceptability, and ease of navigation for all prototypes.

Conclusions:

• Human-centered design is effective for creating practical and user-accepted asthma management interventions.
• The developed asthma essentials kit shows promise for enhancing parent-child collaboration in asthma care.
• Future interventions can leverage this design approach to improve chronic disease management in pediatric populations.