A Web-Based Platform for People With Memory Problems and Their Caregivers (CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD): Mixed-Methods Evaluation of Usability

Paraskevi Zafeiridi; Kevin Paulson; Rosie Dunn; Emma Wolverson; Caroline White; Jonathan Adrian Thorpe; Marco Antomarini; Francesca Cesaroni; Francesca Scocchera; Isabelle Landrin-Dutot; Laëtitia Malherbe; Hendi Lingiah; Marie Bérard; Xavier Gironès; Maria Quintana; Ulises Cortés; Cristian Barrué; Atia Cortés; Ioannis Paliokas; Konstantinos Votis; Dimitrios Tzovaras

doi:10.2196/formative.9083

A Web-Based Platform for People With Memory Problems and Their Caregivers (CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD): Mixed-Methods Evaluation of Usability

JMIR Form Res. 2018 Mar 12;2(1):e4. doi: 10.2196/formative.9083.

Authors

Paraskevi Zafeiridi^#^{1

2}, Kevin Paulson¹, Rosie Dunn^{1

2}, Emma Wolverson², Caroline White², Jonathan Adrian Thorpe^{1

2}, Marco Antomarini³, Francesca Cesaroni³, Francesca Scocchera³, Isabelle Landrin-Dutot⁴, Laëtitia Malherbe⁴, Hendi Lingiah⁴, Marie Bérard⁵, Xavier Gironès⁶, Maria Quintana⁶, Ulises Cortés⁷, Cristian Barrué⁷, Atia Cortés⁷, Ioannis Paliokas⁸, Konstantinos Votis⁸, Dimitrios Tzovaras⁸

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom.
² School of Health and Social Work, University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom.
³ Cooperativa Sociale Onlus Marche Onlus, Ancona, Italy.
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Geriatrics and Therapeutics, Rouen University Hospital, Rouen Cedex, France.
⁵ Department of Geriatrics, Rouen University Hospital, Rouen Cedex, France.
⁶ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Vic, Central University of Catalonia, Manresa, Spain.
⁷ Knowledge Engineering & Machine Learning Group, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
⁸ Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Thessaloniki, Greece.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: The increasing number of people with dementia (PwD) drives research exploring Web-based support interventions to provide effective care for larger populations. In this concept, a Web-based platform (CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD, 620911) was designed to (1) improve the quality of life for PwD, (2) reduce caregiver burden, (3) reduce the financial costs for care, and (4) reduce administration time for health and social care professionals.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the usability and usefulness of CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD platform for PwD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), informal caregivers, and health and social care professionals with respect to a wider strategy followed by the project to enhance the user-centered approach. A secondary aim of the study was to collect recommendations to improve the platform before the future pilot study.

Methods: A mixed methods design was employed for recruiting PwD or MCI (N=24), informal caregivers (N=24), and professionals (N=10). Participants were asked to rate their satisfaction, the perceived usefulness, and ease of use of each function of the platform. Qualitative questions about the improvement of the platform were asked when participants provided low scores for a function. Testing occurred at baseline and 1 week after participants used the platform. The dropout rate from baseline to the follow-up was approximately 10% (6/58).

Results: After 1 week of platform use, the system was useful for 90% (20.75/23) of the caregivers and for 89% (5.36/6) of the professionals. When users responded to more than 1 question per platform function, the mean of satisfied users per function was calculated. These user groups also provided positive evaluations for the ease of use (caregivers: 82%, 18.75/23; professionals: 97%, 5.82/6) and their satisfaction with the platform (caregivers: 79%, 18.08/23; professionals: 73%, 4.36/6). Ratings from PwD were lower than the other groups for usefulness (57%, 13/23), ease of use (41%, 9.4/23), and overall satisfaction (47%, 11/23) with the platform (P<.05). Qualitative comments related to both improvements for functionality and the platform interface.

Conclusions: Although caregivers and professionals were overall satisfied with the platform, further adaptations were recommended by PwD. This reiterates the importance of the involvement of end users in the development of Web-based interventions. Recommendations from users in this paper apply for the interface and functionality of a wider range of Web-based support interventions.

Keywords: caregivers; dementia; social support; technology.

©Paraskevi Zafeiridi, Kevin Paulson, Rosie Dunn, Emma Wolverson, Caroline White, Jonathan Adrian Thorpe, Marco Antomarini, Francesca Cesaroni, Francesca Scocchera, Isabelle Landrin-Dutot, Laëtitia Malherbe, Hendi Lingiah, Marie Bérard, Xavier Gironès, Maria Quintana, Ulises Cortés, Cristian Barrué, Atia Cortés, Ioannis Paliokas, Konstantinos Votis, Dimitrios Tzovaras. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (http://formative.jmir.org), 12.03.2018.