Usability and Usefulness of a Symptom Management Coaching System for Patients With Cancer Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Comparative Mixed Methods Study
BackgroundThe prognosis for patients with several types of cancer has substantially improved following the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors, a novel type of immunotherapy. However, patients may experience symptoms both from the cancer itself and from the medicatio...
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JMIR Publications
2025-01-01
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| Series: | JMIR Formative Research |
| Online Access: | https://formative.jmir.org/2025/1/e57659 |
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| author | Savannah Lucia Caterina Glaser Itske Fraterman Noah van Brummelen Valentina Tibollo Laura Maria Del Campo Henk Mallo Sofie Wilgenhof Szymon Wilk Vitali Gisko Vadzim Khadakou Ronald Cornet Manuel Ottaviano Stephanie Medlock |
| author_facet | Savannah Lucia Caterina Glaser Itske Fraterman Noah van Brummelen Valentina Tibollo Laura Maria Del Campo Henk Mallo Sofie Wilgenhof Szymon Wilk Vitali Gisko Vadzim Khadakou Ronald Cornet Manuel Ottaviano Stephanie Medlock |
| author_sort | Savannah Lucia Caterina Glaser |
| collection | DOAJ |
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BackgroundThe prognosis for patients with several types of cancer has substantially improved following the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors, a novel type of immunotherapy. However, patients may experience symptoms both from the cancer itself and from the medication. A prototype of the eHealth tool Cancer Patients Better Life Experience (CAPABLE) was developed to facilitate symptom management, aimed at patients with melanoma and renal cell carcinoma treated with immunotherapy. Better usability of such eHealth tools can lead to improved user well-being and reduced risk of harm. It is unknown for usability evaluations whether certain usability problems would only be evident to patients whose condition closely resembles the target population, or if a broader group of patients would lead to the identification of a broader range of potential usability issues.
ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the CAPABLE prototype by conducting tests to assess usability, user experience, and perceived acceptability among end users, and to assess any agreements or differences in the results of our wide range of participants.
MethodsThis usability study was executed by interviewing participants with a melanoma or renal cell carcinoma diagnosis who have received immunotherapy and participants without direct experience with the targeted cancer types who have not received immunotherapy. Participants were asked to review the concept of the tool, perform think-aloud tasks, and complete the System Usability Scale and a Perceived Usefulness questionnaire. Usability problems were extracted from the interview data by independent coding and mapped to an eHealth Usability Problem Framework.
ResultsWe included 21 participants in the study, aged 29 to 73 years; 13 participants who had received immunotherapy and 8 participants who had not received immunotherapy. In total, 76 usability problems were identified. A total of 22 usability problems were in the task-technology fit category of the usability framework, mostly regarding the coaching and symptom functionality of the prototype. Critical problems regarding the symptom monitoring functionality were mainly found by participants who had received immunotherapy. For 8 out of 10 statements in the Perceived Usefulness questionnaire, more than 75% of participants agreed or strongly agreed. The overall mean System Usability Scale score was 80 out of 100 (SD 11.3).
ConclusionsDespite identified usability issues, participants responded positively to the Perceived Usefulness questionnaire regarding the evaluated tool. Further analysis of the usability problems indicates that it was essential to include participants who matched the target end users. Participants treated with immunotherapy, specifically with previous experience in immune-related adverse events, encountered critical problems with symptom reporting that would not have been identified if these participants were not included. For other tasks and functionalities, it seems likely that loosening the inclusion criteria would have resulted in sufficient feedback without critical missing usability issues. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2e3c260593ae4ecb88683325fd84d8a0 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2561-326X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
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| series | JMIR Formative Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-2e3c260593ae4ecb88683325fd84d8a02025-01-23T20:00:39ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Formative Research2561-326X2025-01-019e5765910.2196/57659Usability and Usefulness of a Symptom Management Coaching System for Patients With Cancer Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Comparative Mixed Methods StudySavannah Lucia Caterina Glaserhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0103-079XItske Fratermanhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7974-8422Noah van Brummelenhttps://orcid.org/0009-0005-8719-7882Valentina Tibollohttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2687-3822Laura Maria Del Campohttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9882-300XHenk Mallohttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6555-4942Sofie Wilgenhofhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3309-4555Szymon Wilkhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7807-454XVitali Giskohttps://orcid.org/0009-0009-3886-7228Vadzim Khadakouhttps://orcid.org/0009-0007-3350-6269Ronald Cornethttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1704-5980Manuel Ottavianohttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0002-4988Stephanie Medlockhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2679-8095 BackgroundThe prognosis for patients with several types of cancer has substantially improved following the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors, a novel type of immunotherapy. However, patients may experience symptoms both from the cancer itself and from the medication. A prototype of the eHealth tool Cancer Patients Better Life Experience (CAPABLE) was developed to facilitate symptom management, aimed at patients with melanoma and renal cell carcinoma treated with immunotherapy. Better usability of such eHealth tools can lead to improved user well-being and reduced risk of harm. It is unknown for usability evaluations whether certain usability problems would only be evident to patients whose condition closely resembles the target population, or if a broader group of patients would lead to the identification of a broader range of potential usability issues. ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the CAPABLE prototype by conducting tests to assess usability, user experience, and perceived acceptability among end users, and to assess any agreements or differences in the results of our wide range of participants. MethodsThis usability study was executed by interviewing participants with a melanoma or renal cell carcinoma diagnosis who have received immunotherapy and participants without direct experience with the targeted cancer types who have not received immunotherapy. Participants were asked to review the concept of the tool, perform think-aloud tasks, and complete the System Usability Scale and a Perceived Usefulness questionnaire. Usability problems were extracted from the interview data by independent coding and mapped to an eHealth Usability Problem Framework. ResultsWe included 21 participants in the study, aged 29 to 73 years; 13 participants who had received immunotherapy and 8 participants who had not received immunotherapy. In total, 76 usability problems were identified. A total of 22 usability problems were in the task-technology fit category of the usability framework, mostly regarding the coaching and symptom functionality of the prototype. Critical problems regarding the symptom monitoring functionality were mainly found by participants who had received immunotherapy. For 8 out of 10 statements in the Perceived Usefulness questionnaire, more than 75% of participants agreed or strongly agreed. The overall mean System Usability Scale score was 80 out of 100 (SD 11.3). ConclusionsDespite identified usability issues, participants responded positively to the Perceived Usefulness questionnaire regarding the evaluated tool. Further analysis of the usability problems indicates that it was essential to include participants who matched the target end users. Participants treated with immunotherapy, specifically with previous experience in immune-related adverse events, encountered critical problems with symptom reporting that would not have been identified if these participants were not included. For other tasks and functionalities, it seems likely that loosening the inclusion criteria would have resulted in sufficient feedback without critical missing usability issues.https://formative.jmir.org/2025/1/e57659 |
| spellingShingle | Savannah Lucia Caterina Glaser Itske Fraterman Noah van Brummelen Valentina Tibollo Laura Maria Del Campo Henk Mallo Sofie Wilgenhof Szymon Wilk Vitali Gisko Vadzim Khadakou Ronald Cornet Manuel Ottaviano Stephanie Medlock Usability and Usefulness of a Symptom Management Coaching System for Patients With Cancer Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Comparative Mixed Methods Study JMIR Formative Research |
| title | Usability and Usefulness of a Symptom Management Coaching System for Patients With Cancer Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Comparative Mixed Methods Study |
| title_full | Usability and Usefulness of a Symptom Management Coaching System for Patients With Cancer Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Comparative Mixed Methods Study |
| title_fullStr | Usability and Usefulness of a Symptom Management Coaching System for Patients With Cancer Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Comparative Mixed Methods Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Usability and Usefulness of a Symptom Management Coaching System for Patients With Cancer Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Comparative Mixed Methods Study |
| title_short | Usability and Usefulness of a Symptom Management Coaching System for Patients With Cancer Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Comparative Mixed Methods Study |
| title_sort | usability and usefulness of a symptom management coaching system for patients with cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors comparative mixed methods study |
| url | https://formative.jmir.org/2025/1/e57659 |
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