Human Factors, Human-Centered Design, and Usability of Sensor-Based Digital Health Technologies: Scoping Review.

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Usability Engineering

Background:

• Sensor-based digital health technologies (sDHTs) are increasingly adopted, yet implementation faces challenges.
• Methodological approaches to sDHT usability evaluation vary significantly across studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review studies on sDHT human factors, human-centered design, and usability.
• To inform the development of a comprehensive sDHT usability evaluation framework.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a scoping review of studies published 2013-2023 in PubMed.
• Extracted data on study design, participants, sDHTs, data capture methods, and usability metrics.

Main Results:

• 164 sDHTs were evaluated, mostly wearables (86%).
• Evaluations predominantly focused on user satisfaction (83%) and ease of use (91%), with limited reporting on learnability, efficiency, or actionability.
• Reporting gaps exist in sample size rationale (25%) and sociodemographic data (17%).

Conclusions:

• Future sDHT usability studies should assess metrics beyond satisfaction and ease of use.
• Expand participant recruitment to include clinicians and care partners.
• Improve reporting of study design rationale and comprehensive sample characteristics for generalizability.