Design and evaluation of a dashboard to support the comprehension of the progression of patients with dementia in day centers

Int J Med Inform. 2021 Dec:156:104617. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2021.104617. Epub 2021 Oct 19.

Abstract

Background and objective: In day centers, people with dementia are assigned to specific groups to receive care according to the progression of the disease. This article presents the design and evaluation of a dashboard aimed at facilitating the comprehension of the progression of people with dementia to support decision-making of healthcare professionals (HCPs) when determining patient-group assignment.

Materials and method: A participatory design methodology was followed to build the dashboard. The grounded theory methodology was utilized to identify requirements. A total of 8 HCPs participated in the design and evaluation of a low-fidelity prototype. The perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the high-fidelity prototype was evaluated by 15 HCPs (from several day centers) and 38 psychology students utilizing a questionnaire based on the technology acceptance model.

Results: HCPs perceived the dashboard as extremely likely to be useful (Mdn=6.5 out of 7) and quite likely to be usable (Mdn=6 out of 7). Psychology students perceived the dashboard as quite likely to be useful and usable (both with Mdn=6).

Conclusions: Making use of a participatory design helped foster in HCPs a sense of ownership of the dashboard, thus facilitating its acceptance. The creation of low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes led to identifying valuable, timely, and specific feedback at different stages of the development process as well as to establishing a set of lessons learned for the development of dashboards in the healthcare domain.

Keywords: Dashboard design; Day center; Decision-making; Dementia; Patient progression.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult Day Care Centers
  • Comprehension
  • Decision Support Systems, Clinical*
  • Dementia* / diagnosis
  • Disease Progression*
  • Health Personnel
  • Humans
  • Research Design
  • Surveys and Questionnaires