Design Principles of eHealth Services for Chronically Ill Patients
Leinonen, Sini (2021)
2021
Tietotekniikan DI-ohjelma - Master's Programme in Information Technology
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2021-05-18
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202104223285
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202104223285
Tiivistelmä
Patient experience is a significant factor in the life quality of chronically ill patients, and it can be improved by providing effective eHealth services. Design principles are meant to promote good practices and avoid common mistakes in the development process of software. To ensure that future eHealth applications would support good patient experience a solution to the problem “Designers and developers of eHealth services for chronically ill patients lack a comprehensive set of design principles that support good patient experience” was researched.
The research consisted of two parts. First, a scoping review was conducted to find what design principles already exist for the purpose of designing eHealth for the chronically ill. The review found 119 principles in 21 articles, which were then categorized into 15 new principles. Next, an empirical case study was carried out, where kidney disease patients (N = 19) and the clinicians (N = 8) responsible for their care were interviewed. The interviews were semi-structured retrospective interviews and the topics revolved around their needs and experiences related to eHealth and care. The results of the qualitative interviews were combined with the 15 principles, which showed that almost all principles were supported by the case study.
The principles were divided into four categories. Two categories, “Focus on the users” and “Ensure ease-of-use”, contain principles which are applicable to most eHealth services. They cover principles which help avoid usability issues and support user-centered methodologies. The other two, “Support self-management” and “Connect patients and professional healthcare”, contain the principles which are specifically for eHealth services designed for the chronically ill. They cover principles which support the independence of patients by enabling self-management but also provide the support of professional healthcare.
The principles should support organizations who do not have resources to conduct large scale user research. They are applicable to cases where the eHealth service is not very specialized for a niche use case and the patients and clinicians do not have unique needs that other chronically ill patients and their clinicians do not share.
The research consisted of two parts. First, a scoping review was conducted to find what design principles already exist for the purpose of designing eHealth for the chronically ill. The review found 119 principles in 21 articles, which were then categorized into 15 new principles. Next, an empirical case study was carried out, where kidney disease patients (N = 19) and the clinicians (N = 8) responsible for their care were interviewed. The interviews were semi-structured retrospective interviews and the topics revolved around their needs and experiences related to eHealth and care. The results of the qualitative interviews were combined with the 15 principles, which showed that almost all principles were supported by the case study.
The principles were divided into four categories. Two categories, “Focus on the users” and “Ensure ease-of-use”, contain principles which are applicable to most eHealth services. They cover principles which help avoid usability issues and support user-centered methodologies. The other two, “Support self-management” and “Connect patients and professional healthcare”, contain the principles which are specifically for eHealth services designed for the chronically ill. They cover principles which support the independence of patients by enabling self-management but also provide the support of professional healthcare.
The principles should support organizations who do not have resources to conduct large scale user research. They are applicable to cases where the eHealth service is not very specialized for a niche use case and the patients and clinicians do not have unique needs that other chronically ill patients and their clinicians do not share.