The desktop, or the top of the desk? The relative usefulness of household features for personal health information management

Anna F Jolliff; Peter Hoonakker; Kevin Ponto; Ross Tredinnick; Gail Casper; Thomas Martell; Nicole E Werner

doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2019.102912

The desktop, or the top of the desk? The relative usefulness of household features for personal health information management

Appl Ergon. 2020 Jan:82:102912. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2019.102912. Epub 2019 Aug 17.

Authors

Anna F Jolliff¹, Peter Hoonakker², Kevin Ponto³, Ross Tredinnick⁴, Gail Casper⁵, Thomas Martell⁶, Nicole E Werner⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1513 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, USA; Department of Counseling Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. Electronic address: ajolliff@wisc.edu.
² Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA; Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Madison, WI, USA.
³ Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Madison, WI, USA; School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
⁴ Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Madison, WI, USA.
⁵ Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Madison, WI, USA; School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
⁶ Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1513 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, USA.

Abstract

Sixty percent of the US population manages at least one chronic illness. For these patients, personal health information management (PHIM) is an integral part of daily life, and largely occurs within the home. However, the way in which the home supports PHIM has not been systematically investigated. The present study examined how members of the diabetic population use features of the home environment to support PHIM. Participants (N = 60) explored a simulated home environment, the VR CAVE, and identified the most useful features for performing three examples of PHIM tasks. The computer was perceived as the most useful feature for PHIM. However, perceived usefulness of features varied based on the PHIM task performed and the rooms in which features appeared. We conclude that a detailed study of the affordances of features is necessary to ease the burden of managing chronic illness, particularly diabetes mellitus, in the sociotechnical system of the home.

Keywords: Chronic illness; Personal health information management; Sociotechnical systems; Virtual reality.

Publication types

Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

Adult
Chronic Disease
Computer Simulation
Diabetes Mellitus / psychology*
Female
Health Information Management / methods*
Health Records, Personal / psychology*
Household Articles*
Humans
Interior Design and Furnishings*
Male
Task Performance and Analysis
United States
Virtual Reality

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding