Project research: Interviewing people with complex chronic conditions and their caregivers about the Health Gateway website, which was a health and wellness resource made available through Bridgepoint.
Findings and Recommendations
Theme 1:
Content presentation: Health and wellness topics were difficult to find because they were “hidden” in a page. (For example, the dropdown menu listed all topics.)
Recommendation 1:
Bring content to the forefront. Examples of approach:
- Show the main topics on the home page.
- Create an index (i.e., A-Z directory).
- Implement predictive search capabilities.
Theme 2:
Content length: Users do not want to read content that is too long.
Recommendation 2:
Content needs to be short and concise. The first paragraph should always summarize the article.
Theme 3:
Accessibility: With the addition of new primary and secondary menus, and other contextual menus, screen reader users need a quick way to access the main content.
Recommendation 3:
Add skip navigation to allow the user to skip to the main content.
A persona and user journey map was created from our user interviews.
An infographic created after the first phase of the user research.
Infographic presents the participants interview responses:
- 8 participants (5 female and 3 male)
- 5 people with complex chronic conditions (CCD) and 3 caregivers
- areas of interest: exercise, nutrition, latest research and new terminology
- frequency of search for health information: daily (1), once a month (2) and as needed (5)
- online tasks: semi-structured (3 completed, 4 completed with difficulty and 1 incomplete) and predefined tasks (14 completed, 1 completed with difficulty and 0 incomplete)
- computer skills (self-defined) ranged from basic (2) to advanced (2) with half (4) participants stating they were intermediate
- pain points noted about the website: “is this half complete?”, “not the greatest search” and “am I using the wrong term?”
- major themes where: website ease of use and the difficulty with the search function of the site
The following is from the Mitacs website about this project:
The title of the page is “Digital Inclusion: Improving access to online health information for people with complex chronic conditions”.
It was the Accelerate program through Mitacs in collaboration with OCAD University and partnership with Bridgepoint Collaboratory for Research and Innovation, Gravity Ltd.
The interns were Sarah Crosskey, Lester Leung and Angela Punshon.
The faculty supervisor was Jutta Treviranus.
Summary: There are increasing numbers of people living with complex chronic health conditions in Canada. In order to manage their health and continue to live meaningful lives, these individuals and their families need relevant, useful information. Most online information is not delivered with this population in mind. The goal of this study is to examine the online experience of people with complex chronic conditions to develop accessible ways to deliver digital information to this group. The Health Gateway site will be a test case for the implementation of these strategies.
Working with researchers from Bridgepoint, graduate students from the Inclusive Design program at OCAD University will use participatory and user-centered design methods to encourage collaboration among end-users, designers and researchers to achieve project goals. Findings will support appropriate delivery of online health resources that suit end-user needs and abilities and promote the well being of people living with complex chronic conditions.