Development and Usability Evaluation of a Self-Care Application for Stroke Survivors

Development and Usability Evaluation of a Self-Care Application for Stroke Survivors | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Development and Usability Evaluation of a Self-Care Application for Stroke Survivors Hamidreza Tadayon, Seyed Ali Masoud, Ehsan Nabovati, Hossein Akbari, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3910090/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide and a major contributor to disability among survivors. This descriptive app-development study aims to investigate the design and evaluate the usability of a self-care app specifically designed for stroke survivors. Methods: The app was developed using the iterative-incremental model. It is a hybrid web-android-based app that follows a client-server model, incorporating both static and dynamic content. The usability evaluation consisted of two components: an expert-based evaluation conducted with five experts using the Cognitive Walkthrough (CW) methodology, and a user-based evaluation involving 30 users who assessed the app's usability using the System Usability Scale (SUS). Results: The app, known as SSM (Stroke Self-Management), was developed with three distinct sides: admin side, user side, and therapist side. During the evaluation process, a total of 39 usability problems were identified across various aspects, including efficiency, effectiveness, user satisfaction, error, learnability, and memorability. Notably, the number of usability problems related to efficiency and user satisfaction outweighed those of other variables. Similarly, usability problems associated with effectiveness and error were significantly more pronounced. On the other hand, the least number of usability problems (n = 1) was identified in terms of learnability. From the users' perspective, the developed app received an average score of 75.25, which can be considered acceptable in terms of usability. Conclusions: Most of the identified usability issues in this server-based app for stroke survivors were related to efficiency and user satisfaction. Therefore, it is recommended that future studies focus on evaluating the app for usability problems before the release phase and address high-intensity issues, such as effectiveness and errors. Mobile Applications Self Care Software Design Usability Evaluation Stroke Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3910090","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":271505975,"identity":"f86560a1-e670-403c-aa68-a0b87701be35","order_by":0,"name":"Hamidreza Tadayon","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hamidreza","middleName":"","lastName":"Tadayon","suffix":""},{"id":271505976,"identity":"0ad45c3b-2722-4ef9-b2e4-bd1c8dacb856","order_by":1,"name":"Seyed Ali Masoud","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kashan 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Stroke","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3910090/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3910090/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground:\u003c/strong\u003e Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide and a major contributor to disability among survivors. This descriptive app-development study aims to investigate the design and evaluate the usability of a self-care app specifically designed for stroke survivors.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethods:\u003c/strong\u003e The app was developed using the iterative-incremental model. It is a hybrid web-android-based app that follows a client-server model, incorporating both static and dynamic content. The usability evaluation consisted of two components: an expert-based evaluation conducted with five experts using the Cognitive Walkthrough (CW) methodology, and a user-based evaluation involving 30 users who assessed the app's usability using the System Usability Scale (SUS).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults:\u003c/strong\u003e The app, known as SSM (Stroke Self-Management), was developed with three distinct sides: admin side, user side, and therapist side. During the evaluation process, a total of 39 usability problems were identified across various aspects, including efficiency, effectiveness, user satisfaction, error, learnability, and memorability. Notably, the number of usability problems related to efficiency and user satisfaction outweighed those of other variables. Similarly, usability problems associated with effectiveness and error were significantly more pronounced. On the other hand, the least number of usability problems (n = 1) was identified in terms of learnability.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the users' perspective, the developed app received an average score of 75.25, which can be considered acceptable in terms of usability.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusions:\u003c/strong\u003e Most of the identified usability issues in this server-based app for stroke survivors were related to efficiency and user satisfaction. Therefore, it is recommended that future studies focus on evaluating the app for usability problems before the release phase and address high-intensity issues, such as effectiveness and errors.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Development and Usability Evaluation of a Self-Care Application for Stroke Survivors","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-02-07 20:47:48","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3910090/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3f196f77-089a-4ef7-99cf-93261bff0906","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 7th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-02-28T14:36:46+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-02-07 20:47:48","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-3910090","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-3910090","identity":"rs-3910090","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"FbvkV6FR0MCFSLy54lSbu","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}