User Testing of the Veteran Delegation Tool: Qualitative Inquiry

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Informal caregivers, or care partners, are crucial for managing patient health care.
• The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) recognizes care partners' vital role in supporting veterans.
• The Veteran Delegation Tool (VDT) enables care partners to co-manage veteran care via VHA's electronic health portal.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine care partner perceptions and experiences with the Veteran Delegation Tool (VDT).
• To identify benefits, facilitators, and barriers to VDT use through a human-centered design approach.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, descriptive quality improvement project utilizing a 4-phase human-centered design approach (frame, discover, design, deliver).
• The 'discover' phase involved semistructured interviews and user testing with veterans, care partners, and providers.
• Data analysis focused on perceived benefits, facilitators, barriers, and user experiences with VDT functionalities.

Main Results:

• Participants perceived benefits including authorized access, online care co-management, improved communication, resource access, and reduced burden.
• Identified barriers included lack of benefit recognition, technical literacy issues, increased care partner stress, and data security concerns.
• User testing revealed challenges in VDT registration, navigation, and overall use, informing necessary enhancements.

Conclusions:

• Care partners require secure electronic health portal access for effective care management.
• While VDT offers value, improvements in access and navigation are essential for widespread adoption and sustained use.
• Iterative evaluation of human-centered design phases is necessary to optimize VDT for target users, particularly care partners.