Data Analysis of Usability Evaluation

In order to examine the criteria used by immigrant mothers to evaluate healthcare media, Descriptive Statistics/Frequencies tests were used to identify the criteria used by immigrant mothers to evaluate healthcare media.

In terms of the quality of the content, 98.4% of the participants thought that ‘authoritative attribution’ was an important factor, since they rated this as 4 or 5 on the five-point Likert Scale. However, only 70% of the participants thought that ‘limited information’ and the ‘latest information’ were important, since around 20% of them expressed a neutral attitude toward these factors.

In terms of the quality of the appearance, 98.5% of the participants thought that ‘real photos’ were important, since they rated this factor as 4 or 5 on the five-point Likert Scale, while ‘consistent style’ was only deemed to be important by 62.6% and ‘high contrast’ by 64% of the participants, since they always rated these factors as 3 or 4 on the five-point Likert Scale.

As for the quality of the usability, ‘easy navigation’ and ‘user friendly interface’ were the most advocated criteria, since more than 90% of the participants thought that they were important and rated them as 4 or 5 on the five-point Likert Scale. On the other hand, ‘simple digital technology’ was ranked first by the website group since 93.7% of them marked this as being an important factor and rated it as 4 or 5 on the five-point Likert Scale.

In brief, most of the criteria were advocated by more than 70% of the participants, indicating that all the immigrant mothers agreed that most of the criteria were important. However, only about 73.4% of them thought that the quality of the appearance was critical, which was significantly lower than the 89.3% who thought the quality of the content was important; while around 85% thought that the quality of the usability was significant.

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Chart 8.2.1 Content Evaluation

Chart 8.2.4 Usability Evaluation for Website Only Chart 8.2.3 Usability Evaluation

8.3 Key Findings and Discussion

The criteria used by immigrant mothers to evaluate healthcare media could be analysed in terms of the quality of content, appearance, and usability. Most of the participants agreed that the quality of content and usability was marginal important than the quality of appearance in healthcare media. In terms of the content design, both of the past and new findings agreed with certain evaluation criteria for low-literate health media, such as a clear theme is described; plain language is used; short sentences is adopted; a vivid and friendly tone is adopted; information is divided into several unique classifications; and the authority and attribution is clearly recorded. This study advocates two more criteria that were recommended for higher literacy users in previous studies. The first is that the source of the content should be up to date, which was mentioned by Kerr et al. (2008) and the second is that advertising should be clearly distinguished from content, which was stressed by HON ( 2011).

In terms of the appearance design, both of the past and new findings agreed with certain evaluation criteria, such as attractive cover is designed; plenty of empty white space is adopted; suitable font size is used; layout is designed in a logical manner; related pictures are placed near relevant text; and a high degree of contrast between the print and the paper is adopted. This study proposes one more criterion than was recommended for higher literacy users in previous studies, which is designing the colour and background consistently to help audiences to recognise the chapter they are reading, as mentioned by Hung & Stones (2011). On the otherhand, both of the past and new findings had some different views in appearance design. For example, Anderson et al. (2008) point out that most low-literate adults prefer images of real people rather than cartoons and illustrations in the design of health educational materials, whereas this study found that both cartoons and photographs are welcomed by low-literate immigrants. Therefore, this study suggests that designers should use photographs to interpret the text and cartoons to attract low-literate users’ attention.

In terms of the usability design, both of the past and new findings agreed with certain evaluation criteria, such as a user-friendly interface is designed; information is represented in a way of dialogues; content is easy for navigation; and simple digital technology is adopted. This study also proposes four further criteria that are recommended for higher literacy users in previous studies. The first is the provision of video narration to reduce the pressure of reading, mentioned by Chen et al. (2005), while the second involves offering online consultancy to support patients’ self-management, advocated by Hung

& Stones (2011). The third relates to illustrating others’ experience of healthcare to reduce the level of anxiety of those suffering from a similar disease, as suggested by Jan et al. (2007). The fourth is providing the option for low-literate immigrants to select a specific language. All of the contents of testing media were made available in the Vietnamese, Chinese and English. The criteria used by immigrant mothers to evaluate healthcare media are detailed in Table 11 according to their importance. It could be a standard for the development of strategies related to low-literate healthcare media.

Categories Elements Content

Design

1 Whether the information of hospital or doctor is contained. 2 Whether it uses plain language.

3 Whether information is divided into several classifications. 4 Whether the advertisement and content are obviously

compartmentalised

5 Whether it conveys clear themes. 6 Whether it is written in a friendly Tone. 7 Whether it uses short sentences.

8 Whether it presents the latest information. 9 Whether it shows limited information.

Appearance Design

1 Whether related pictures are placed near relevant text. 2 Whether it has organized layout.

3 Whether it has an attractive coverage. 4 Whether it has cartoons.

5 Whether the font size is suitable for reading. 6 Whether it adopts plenty of white spaces.

7 Whether it adopts a high degree of contrast between the print and the paper

8 Whether the colour and background are designed consistently.

Usability Design

1 Whether the content is easy for navigation. 2 Whether a user-friendly interface is designed.

3 Whether it provides the option for user to select a specific language 4 Whether it provides others’ experience.

5 Whether it represents information in a way of dialogues.

Website only

1 Whether it adopts simple digital technology. 2 Whether it offers online consultancy.

3 Whether it offers video narration.