Studying usage and experiences of mHealth technology for its improved usability
- Mixed methods research for understanding users’ long-term engagement with the Few Touch application for self-management of Type 2 diabetes mellitus -

Tatara, Naoe

dc.contributor.advisor	Hartvigsen, Gunnar
dc.contributor.author	Tatara, Naoe
dc.date.accessioned	2014-03-28T09:38:20Z
dc.date.available	2014-03-28T09:38:20Z
dc.date.issued	2014-02-28
dc.description.abstract	In spite of a number of mHealth (use of mobile computing for health care) studies targeting people with diabetes, there has not yet been any clear evidence of its effect. Due to obscurity regarding subjects’ engagement with each component of the provided technology, it is not clear which factors are important and why. Considering that behavior change is a path of improvement in self-management of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), it is crucial to investigate users’ usage and experiences of mHealth technology over time. Furthermore, ensuring usability of a technology is essential for the initial uptake and continuous usage of it. This research was conducted in three phases using mixed methods research. In Phases 1 and 2, long-term trials of a mobile phone-based self-help application “the Few Touch application” were carried out by involving two different user groups: one had been involved in the design process from an early stage and the other had not. In Phase 3, design of a food-information database module as a part of improvement of the Few Touch application was carried out by involving users and non-users. The study empirically showed the following: the users basically used and experienced the Few Touch application as a flexible learning tool in terms of self-management of T2DM. Patterns and degrees of usage varied a lot among users and they changed over time depending on each user’s needs and background both directly and indirectly relevant to T2DM. This was because motivation for continuation of usage was a result of balancing between expected benefit and effort required to use it. Usability of the technology could be improved by designing it so that it simplifies tedious self-management activities without posing extra effort to use the technology while it enhances the learning process and maximizes its learning effect.	en
dc.description.doctoraltype	ph.d.	en
dc.description.popularabstract	Studien er utført med mixed methods research for å undersøke bruk og opplevelse av et mobiltelefonbasert selvhjelpsverktøy for mennesker med type 2-diabetes (T2DM), “the Few Touch application”. Langsiktig testing av applikasjonen ble utført ved å involvere to ulike brukergrupper. Som en del av applikasjonen ble en matvare-database utformet. Dette ble utført ved å involvere både brukere og ikke-brukere. Studien viste empirisk følgende: brukerne brukte og opplevde applikasjonen som et fleksibelt verktøy for å lære om sin T2DM. Mønster og grad av bruk varierte svært mye blant brukerne og endret seg også over tid. Disse variasjonene og endringene var avhengig av hver enkelt brukers behov og bakgrunn. Brukervennligheten av teknologien kunne forbedres ved å utforme den slik at den forenkler kjedelige egenmestringsaktiviteter uten at dette medfører ekstra innsats, men likevel slik at den forbedrer læringsprosessen og maksimerer læringseffekten.	en
dc.description.sponsorship	Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory (TTL) funded by the Norwegian Research Council Grant No. 174934	en
dc.description	Paper 1, 4 and 5 of this thesis are not available in Munin: <br/>1. Årsand E, Nilsen H, Hartvigsen G.: 'A Review of Mobile Terminal-Based Applications for Self-Management of Patients with Diabetes', Proceedings of International Conference on eHealth, Telemedicine, and Social Medicine (2009), pages 166-175. Available at <a href=http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/eTELEMED.2009.14>http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/eTELEMED.2009.14</a> <br/>4. Tatara N, Årsand E, Hartvigsen G.: 'Patient-user involvement for designing a self-help tool for Type 2 diabetes', in Proceedings of Therapeutic Strategies A Challenge for User Involvement in Design: Workshop in conjunction with NordiCHI2010 (2010), pages 53-55. <br/>5. Tatara N, Bratteteig T.: 'Making it Easy is not so Easy: Interaction Design with Text and Image on a Small Screen' (manuscript).	en
dc.identifier.isbn	978-82-8236-123-1 (pdf)
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10037/6107
dc.identifier.urn	URN:NBN:no-uit_munin_5796
dc.language.iso	eng	en
dc.publisher	UiT Norges arktiske universitet	en
dc.publisher	UiT The Arctic University of Norway	en
dc.rights.accessRights	openAccess
dc.rights.holder	Copyright 2014 The Author(s)
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0	en_US
dc.rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)	en_US
dc.subject	VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Information and communication science: 420::System development and system design: 426	en
dc.subject	VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Informasjons- og kommunikasjonsvitenskap: 420::Systemutvikling og -arbeid: 426	en
dc.subject	Human Computer Interaction	en
dc.subject	Human Computer Interaction	en
dc.subject	Mobile phone application	en
dc.subject	Mobiltelefonbasert applikasjon	en
dc.subject	Type 2 diabetes mellitus	en
dc.subject	Type 2-diabetes	en
dc.subject	Usability	en
dc.subject	Brukervennlighet	en
dc.subject	Mixed methods research	en
dc.subject	Mixed methods research	en
dc.title	Studying usage and experiences of mHealth technology for its improved usability - Mixed methods research for understanding users’ long-term engagement with the Few Touch application for self-management of Type 2 diabetes mellitus -	en
dc.type	Doctoral thesis	en
dc.type	Doktorgradsavhandling	en