Automated Workflow for Usability Audits in the PHR Realm.

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Software Engineering
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Teleworking is prevalent, increasing the need for effective remote collaboration tools.
• Software usability is crucial for user satisfaction and adoption, especially in sensitive applications like Personal Health Records (PHRs).
• Existing usability evaluation methods may not fully support remote, collaborative workflows.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a novel workflow for managing remote usability evaluations.
• To introduce Usevalia, a tool designed to facilitate collaborative expert reviews of software usability.
• To assess the effectiveness of the proposed workflow using PHRs as a case study.

Main Methods:

• Development of a comprehensive usability evaluation workflow including heuristics, requirements, checklists, and tasks.
• Implementation of Usevalia, a tool to manage remote expert usability evaluations.
• Case study involving 31 working groups evaluating the usability of four PHRs.

Main Results:

• Evaluators confirmed Usevalia enhances coordinated, remote usability evaluations.
• The Usevalia workflow allows usability evaluations to advance through improved collaboration.
• Analysis of usability scores provided actionable insights for improving PHR application usability.

Conclusions:

• The proposed Usevalia workflow effectively supports remote, collaborative usability evaluations.
• Usevalia offers a scalable solution for assessing software usability in distributed teams.
• This methodology contributes to enhancing the quality and user-centered design of digital health applications.