Designing an Indoor Air Quality Monitoring App for Asthma Management in Children: User-Centered Design Approach

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Pediatric Chronic Disease Management
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Indoor air pollution is a significant trigger for pediatric asthma.
• Current mobile applications do not adequately support children in monitoring or improving indoor air quality for asthma management.
• Engaging children in secondary environmental prevention for asthma is a promising approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design a mobile application that empowers children to monitor indoor air quality and track their asthma symptoms.
• To utilize a user-centered, iterative design process for app development.
• To address the gap in existing digital tools for pediatric asthma self-management related to environmental triggers.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a review of existing indoor air quality and asthma management apps for children.
• Performed semistructured interviews with 12 children diagnosed with asthma.
• Employed an iterative prototyping methodology, including evaluation and revision cycles based on user feedback.

Main Results:

• User feedback highlighted specific needs and perspectives, directly informing the final app designs.
• Two distinct app versions were developed: AirBuddy for direct indoor air quality information and AirPet for gamified monitoring.
• The design process identified key considerations for child-friendly applications, such as balancing information clarity and engagement.

Conclusions:

• An iterative, user-centered design process successfully yielded two app prototypes (AirBuddy and AirPet) for children with asthma.
• Key insights include the importance of balancing expressivity with brevity and understanding the long-term impact of gamification in pediatric apps.
• Future research will involve a longitudinal study to assess the real-world effectiveness of the developed applications.