Clinical guideline adherence can improve patient outcomes. Because mobile apps are promising approaches to enhance providers’ use of clinical guidelines, we designed and developed a mobile application called Sexual Assault Care Algorithm (SACA) for rapid decision-making and guidance for health care providers of child sex-abuse victims, especially those working in emergency rooms. This study provides a preliminary evaluation of the usability and acceptability of SACA.
Methods
We conducted an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design, which included an initial quantitative survey (including Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire and Acceptability e-Scale) and a follow-up qualitative study from interviews, observations, and documentation. Then we linked the qualitative data with the initial quantitative data to determine how the follow-up qualitative data help explain the initial quantitative results. The results were illustrated using a joint display table.
Results
Four providers completed the study. Both usabilityscore (3.70 (SD, 1.21)) and acceptability score (3.79 (SD, 1.14)) were relatively high. Average time per question using SACA was 2 minutes, which is faster than using paper-based guidelines. The average accuracy rates were the same (67%) using both guidelines. The qualitative data provided insight into the initial survey results and helped identify areas to optimize.
Implications
These research findings provide important implications for future app revisions and training. We have already added information and explanations based on the participants’ suggestions. We will design individualized training based on users’ real-life workflow to give them a meaningful learning experience.
Conclusions
Our findings highlight the value of using a mixed methods research design to conduct a usability and acceptance test. Our data provide preliminary evidence of high usability and acceptability of SACA in a sample of providers and suggest that the mobile app has potential to improve provider’s compliance with the decision-making guidelines for testing and treatment plans for children who might be sexually abused or assaulted. Information collected from this project was used to guide revisions to SACA.
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