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Deriving guidelines for designing interactive questionnaires for low-literate persons: development of a health assessment questionnaire

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Abstract

Large groups in society, in particular people with low literacy, lack the necessary proactivity and problem-solving skills to be self-reliant. One omnipresent problem area where these skills are relevant regards filling in forms and questionnaires. These problems could be potentially alleviated by taking advantage of the possibilities of information and communication technology (ICT), for example by offering alternatives to text, interactive self-explaining scales and easily accessible background information on the questionnaires’ rationale. The goal of this paper was to present explorative design guidelines for developing interactive questionnaires for low-literate persons. The guidelines have been derived during a user-centered design process of the Dutch Talking Touch Screen Questionnaire (DTTSQ), an interactive health assessment questionnaire used in physical therapy. The DTTSQ was developed to support patients with low health literacy, meaning they have problems with seeking, understanding and using health information. A decent number of guidelines have been derived and presented according to an existing, comprehensive model. Also, lessons learned were derived from including low-literate persons in the user-centered design process. The guidelines should be made available to ICT developers and, when applied properly, will contribute to the advancement of (health) literacy and empower citizens to fully participate in society.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been carried out as part of the project TransFysA (Transparante Fysiotherapie in Achterstandsgebieden; Transparent Physiotherapy in Deprived areas), which was funded by the Dutch SIA RAAK agency for applied research. The authors thank ROC Midden-Nederland in Amersfoort for their kind participation, in particular course teacher Inez de Graaff and the students.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group Lifestyle and Health, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 85182, 3508 AD, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Marlies Welbie & Harriët Wittink

  2. Research Group Co-design, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 182, 3500 AD, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Anita H.M. Cremers

  3. TNO, P.O. Box 23, 3769 ZG, Soesterberg, The Netherlands

    Anita H.M. Cremers & Kim Kranenborg

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  1. Anita H.M. Cremers
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  2. Marlies Welbie
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Correspondence to Anita H.M. Cremers.

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Cremers, A.H., Welbie, M., Kranenborg, K. et al. Deriving guidelines for designing interactive questionnaires for low-literate persons: development of a health assessment questionnaire. Univ Access Inf Soc 16, 161–172 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-015-0431-2

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