✪ Use of Human-Centered Design to Improve Implementation of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies in Low-Resource Communities: Protocol for Studies Applying a Framework to Assess Usability

Abstract:

Background

This paper presents the protocol for the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)–funded University of Washington’s ALACRITY (Advanced Laboratories for Accelerating the Reach and Impact of Treatments for Youth and Adults with Mental Illness) Center (UWAC), which uses human-centered design (HCD) methods to improve the implementation of evidence-based psychosocial interventions (EBPIs). We propose that usability—the degree to which interventions and implementation strategies can be used with ease, efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction—is a fundamental, yet poorly understood determinant of implementation.

Objective

We present a novel Discover, Design/Build, and Test (DDBT) framework to study usability as an implementation determinant. DDBT will be applied across Center projects to develop scalable and efficient implementation strategies (eg, training tools), modify existing EBPIs to enhance usability, and create usable and nonburdensome decision support tools for quality delivery of EBPIs.

Methods

Stakeholder participants will be implementation practitioners/intermediaries, mental health clinicians, and patients with mental illness in nonspecialty mental health settings in underresourced communities. Three preplanned projects and 12 pilot studies will employ the DDBT model to (1) identify usability challenges in implementing EBPIs in underresourced settings; (2) iteratively design solutions to overcome these challenges; and (3) compare the solution to the original version of the EPBI or implementation strategy on usability, quality of care, and patient-reported outcomes. The final products from the center will be a streamlined modification and redesign model that will improve the usability of EBPIs and implementation strategies (eg, tools to support EBPI education and decision making); a matrix of modification targets (ie, usability issues) that are both common and unique to EBPIs, strategies, settings, and patient populations; and a compilation of redesign strategies and the relative effectiveness of the redesigned solution compared to the original EBPI or strategy.

Results

The UWAC received institutional review board approval for the three separate studies in March 2018 and was funded in May 2018.

Conclusions

The outcomes from this center will inform the implementation of EBPIs by identifying cross-cutting features of EBPIs and implementation strategies that influence the use and acceptability of these interventions, actively involving stakeholder clinicians and implementation practitioners in the design of the EBPI modification or implementation strategy solution and identifying the impact of HCD-informed modifications and solutions on intervention effectiveness and quality.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03515226 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03515226), NCT03514394 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03514394), and NCT03516513 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03516513).

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/14990

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✪ Development and Implementation of a Mobile Phone–Based Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV Cascade Analysis Tool: Usability and Feasibility Testing in Kenya and Mozambique

Abstract:

Background

Prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) care cascade failures drive pediatric HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. As nurses’ clinical and management role in PMTCT expand, decision-support tools for nurses are needed to facilitate identification of cascade inefficiencies and solutions. The mobile phone–based PMTCT cascade analysis tool (mPCAT) provides health facility staff a quick summary of the number of patients and percentage drop-off at each step of the PMCTC care cascade, as well as how many women-infant pairs would be retained if a step was optimized.

Objective

The objective of this study was to understand and improve the mPCAT’s core usability factors and assess the health workers’ experience with using the mPCAT.

Methods

Overall, 2 rounds of usability testing were conducted with health workers from 4 clinics and leading experts in maternal and child health in Kenya and Mozambique using videotaped think aloud assessment techniques. Semistructured group interviews gauged the understanding of mPCAT’s core usability factors, based on the Nielsen Usability Framework, followed by development of cognitive demand tables describing the needed mPCAT updates. Post adaptation, feasibility was assessed in 3 high volume clinics over 12 weeks. Participants completed a 5-point Likert questionnaire designed to measure ease of use, convenience of integration into work, and future intention to use the mPCAT. Focus group discussions with nurse participants at each facility and in-depth interviews with nurse managers were also conducted to assess the acceptability, use, and recommendations for adaptations of the mPCAT.

Results

Usability testing with software engineers enabled real-time feedback to build a tool following empathic design principles. The revised mPCAT had improved navigation and simplified data entry interface, with only 1 data entry field per page. Improvements to the results page included a data visualization feature and the ability to share results through WhatsApp. Coding was simplified to enable future revisions by nontechnical staff—critical for context-specific adaptations for scale-up. Health care workers and facility managers found the tool easy to use (mean=4.3), used the tool very often (mean=4.1), and definitely intended to continue to use the tool (mean=4.8). Ease of use was the most common theme identified, with emphasis on how the tool readily informed system improvement decision making.

Conclusions

The mPCAT was well accepted by frontline health workers and facility managers. The collaborative process between software developer and user led to the development of a more user-friendly, context-specific tool that could be easily integrated into routine clinical practice and workflow. The mPCAT gave frontline health workers and facility managers an immediate, direct, and tangible way to use their clinical documentation and routinely reported data for decision making for their own clinical practice and facility-level improvements.

^{**This abstract is posted with permission under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License**}

Keywords: Usability