Usability Testing of a Mobile Health Application for Self-Management of Serious Mental Illness in a Norwegian Community Mental Health Setting

Marianne Storm, Hilde Marie Hunsbedt Fjellså, Jorunn N. Skjærpe, Amanda L. Myers, Stephen J. Bartels and Karen L. Fortuna
Additional contact information
Marianne Storm: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, 4021 Stavanger, Norway
Hilde Marie Hunsbedt Fjellså: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, 4021 Stavanger, Norway
Jorunn N. Skjærpe: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, 4021 Stavanger, Norway
Amanda L. Myers: School of Public Health, Rivier University, Nashua, NH 03060, USA
Stephen J. Bartels: Mongan Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Karen L. Fortuna: Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH 03766, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-11

Abstract: Background: For digital tools to have high usability and fit service users’ health needs and socio-environmental context, it is important to explore usability with end-users and identify facilitators and barriers to uptake. Objective: To conduct user testing of the smartphone health application, PeerTECH, in a Norwegian community mental health setting. Methods: Semistructured interviews and usability testing of the PeerTECH app using the Think-Aloud approach and task analysis among 11 people (three individuals with a serious mental illness, two peer support workers, and six mental health professionals). Results: Study participants perceived PeerTECH as a relevant tool to support self-management of their mental and physical health conditions, and they provided valuable feedback on existing features as well as suggestions for adaptions to the Norwegian context. The task analysis revealed that PeerTECH is easy to manage for service users and peer support workers. Conclusions: Adapting the PeerTECH smartphone app to the Norwegian context may be a viable and useful tool to support individuals with serious mental illness.

Keywords: mobile health; user-testing; usability study; serious mental illness; peer support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8667/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8667/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:16:p:8667-:d:615682

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().