Abstract
Despite the increasing number of mental health applications (apps), the perceived usability of these apps from the viewpoint of end users has rarely been studied. App usability can impact users’ acceptance and engagement with a self-guided mobile health intervention. This study aims to evaluate the usability of a gratitude application called Be Grateful from the perspective of end-users to identify existing design, functionality, and usability issues and elicit users’ views and experiences with the app. We designed the app and conducted usability testing, a combination of interview and questionnaire study of 14 participants who have experienced mental health issues based on self-diagnosis. Participants used Be Grateful app for ten days, completed the System Usability Scale (SUS) validated measure of system usability, and were interviewed at the end of the study. We found that the end-user appreciated the simplicity, straightforwardness of the app and provided positive feedback about the layout. Participants also gave the system high scores on the SUS usability measure (mean = 83.93). Results indicated that the Be Grateful app is usable and will be more likely to be adopted and used by users. Participants were generally excited about the app and eager to use it. This paper reports the lessons learned from the design and evaluation of the app’s usability. We discuss design implications for future work in the area of designing interactive mobile apps for health and wellness, with a focus on mental health interventions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alqahtani, F., Al Khalifah, G., Oyebode, O., Orji, R.: Apps for mental health: an evaluation of behavior change strategies and recommendations for future development. Front. Artif. Intell. 2, 30 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3389/frai.2019.00030
Alqahtani, F., Meier, S., Orji, R.: Personality-based approach for tailoring persuasive mental health applications. User Model. User-Adapt. Interact. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11257-021-09289-5
Alqahtani, F., Orji, R.: Insights from user reviews to improve mental health apps. Health Inform. J. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458219896492
Alqahtani, F., Orji, R.: Usability issues in mental health applications. In: ACM UMAP 2019 Adjunct - Adjunct Publication of the 27th Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization, pp. 343–348 (2019)
Alqahtani, F., Winn, A., Orji, R.: Co-designing a mobile app to improve mental health and well-being: focus group study. JMIR Form. Res. 5(2), e18172 (2021). https://doi.org/10.2196/18172
Arean, P.A., et al.: The use and effectiveness of mobile apps for depression: results from a fully remote clinical trial. J. Med. Internet Res. 18(12), e330 (2016). https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.6482
Arewasikporn, A., Sturgeon, J.A., Zautra, A.J.: Sharing positive experiences boosts resilient thinking: everyday benefits of social connection and positive emotion in a community sample. Am. J. Community Psychol. 63(1–2), 110–121 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12279
Bakker, D., Rickard, N.: Engagement in mobile phone app for self-monitoring of emotional wellbeing predicts changes in mental health: MoodPrism. J. Affect. Disord. 227(2018), 432–442 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.11.016
Bardram, J.E., Frost, M., Szántó, K., Faurholt-Jepsen, M., Vinberg, M., Kessing, L.V.: Designing mobile health technology for bipolar disorder: a field trial of the MONARCA system. In: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, pp. 2627–2636 (2013)
Bolier, L., Haverman, M., Westerhof, G.J., Riper, H., Smit, F., Bohlmeijer, E.: Positive psychology interventions: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies. BMC Public Health 13(1), 1–20 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-119
Brooke, J.: SUS: a “quick and dirty” usability scale. In: Usability Evaluation in Industry, pp. 189–194. Taylor & Francis (1996)
Burke, L.E., Swigart, V., Turk, M.W., Derro, N., Ewing, L.J.: Experiences of self-monitoring: successes and struggles during treatment for weight loss. Qual. Health Res. 19(6), 815–828 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732309335395
Butler, K.A.: Usability engineering turns 10. Interactions 3(1), 58–75 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1145/223500.223513
Canzian, L., Musolesi, M.: Trajectories of depression: unobtrusive monitoring of depressive states by means of smartphone mobility traces analysis. In: UbiComp 2015 - Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, pp. 1293–1304, September 2015
Coelhoso, C.C., et al.: A new mental health mobile app for well-being and stress reduction in working women: randomized controlled trial. J. Med. Internet Res. 21(11), e14269 (2019). https://doi.org/10.2196/14269
Davis, D.E., et al.: Thankful for the little things: a meta-analysis of gratitude interventions. J. Counsel. Psychol. 63(1), 20–31 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000107
Desurvire, H., Kondziela, J., Atwood, M.E.: What is gained and lost when using methods other than empirical testing, vol. 125 (1992)
Gable, S.L., Impett, E.A., Reis, H.T., Asher, E.R.: What do you do when things go right? The intrapersonal and interpersonal benefits of sharing positive events. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 87(2), 228–245 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.87.2.228
Green, C.A., Duan, N., Gibbons, R.D., Hoagwood, K.E., Palinkas, L.A., Wisdom, J.P.: Approaches to mixed methods dissemination and implementation research: methods, strengths, caveats, and opportunities. Adm. Policy Ment. Health 42(5), 508–523 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-014-0552-6
Kortum, P.T., Bangor, A.: Usability ratings for everyday products measured with the system usability scale. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Interact. 29(2), 67–76 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2012.681221
Lambert, N.M., et al.: A boost of positive affect: the perks of sharing positive experiences. J. Soc. Pers. Relationsh. 30(1), 24–43 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407512449400
Maramba, I., Chatterjee, A., Newman, C.: Methods of usability testing in the development of eHealth applications: a scoping review. Int. J. Med. Inform. 126, 95–104 (2019)
Molich, R., Ede, M.R., Kaasgaard, K., Karyukin, B.: Comparative usability evaluation. Behav. Inf. Technol. 23(1), 65–74 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929032000173951
Molieh, R., et al.: Comparative evaluation of usability tests. In: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, pp. 83–84 (1999)
Nielsen, J.: Usability engineering (1994)
Orji, R., Reilly, D., Oyibo, K., Orji, F.A.: Deconstructing persuasiveness of strategies in behaviour change systems using the ARCS model of motivation (2018). https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2018.1520302
Peres, S.C., Pham, T., Phillips, R.: Validation of the system usability scale (SUS): SUS in the wild. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, pp. 192–196 (2013)
Peters, D., Deady, M., Glozier, N., Harvey, S., Calvo, R.A.: Worker preferences for a mental health app within male-dominated industries: participatory study. J. Med. Internet Res. 20(4), e30 (2018). https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.8999
Price, M., Sawyer, T., Harris, M., Skalka, C.: Usability evaluation of a mobile monitoring system to assess symptoms after a traumatic injury: a mixed-methods study. JMIR Mental Health 3(1), e3 (2016). https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.5023
Roepke, A.M., Jaffee, S.R., Riffle, O.M., McGonigal, J., Broome, R., Maxwell, B.: Randomized controlled trial of SuperBetter, a smartphone-based/internet-based self-help tool to reduce depressive symptoms. Games Health J. 4(3), 235–246 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1089/g4h.2014.0046
Rubin, J., Chisnell, D.: Handbook of usability testing: how to plan, design, and conduct effective tests. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. 47(3), 258–259 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1097-4571(199603)47:3<258::aid-asi18>3.3.co;2-l
Lewis, J.R., Sauro, J.: Quantifying the User Experience: Practical Statistics for User Research (2013)
Seligman, M.E.P., Steen, T.A., Park, N., Peterson, C.: Positive psychology progress: empirical validation of interventions. Am. Psycholo. 60(5), 410–421 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410
Senf, K., Liau, A.K.: The effects of positive interventions on happiness and depressive symptoms, with an examination of personality as a moderator. J. Happiness Stud. 14(2), 591–612 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-012-9344-4
Sheldon, K.M., Lyubomirsky, S.: How to increase and sustain positive emotion: the effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves. J. Posit. Psychol. 1(2), 73–82 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760500510676
Sin, N.L., Lyubomirsky, S.: Enhancing well-being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: a practice-friendly meta-analysis. J. Clin. Psychol. 65(5), 467–487 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20593
White, C.A., Uttl, B., Holder, M.D.: Meta-analyses of positive psychology interventions: the effects are much smaller than previously reported. PLoS ONE 14(5), e0216588 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216588
Wichansky, A.M.: Usability testing in 2000 and beyond. Ergonomics 43(7), 998–1006 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1080/001401300409170
Acknowledgements
This research was undertaken, in part, thanks to funding from the Canada Research Chairs Program. We acknowledge the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through the Discovery Grant.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Alqahtani, F., Alslaity, A., Orji, R. (2022). Usability Testing of a Gratitude Application for Promoting Mental Well-Being. In: Kurosu, M. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction. User Experience and Behavior. HCII 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13304. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05412-9_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05412-9_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-05411-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-05412-9
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)