Patient preferences for visualization of longitudinal patient-reported outcomes data

Abstract

Objective The study sought to design symptom reports of longitudinal patient-reported outcomes data that are understandable and meaningful to end users. Materials and Methods We completed a 2-phase iterative design and evaluation process. In phase I, we developed symptom reports and refined them according to expert input. End users then completed a survey containing demographics, a measure of health literacy, and items to assess visualization preferences and comprehension of reports. We then collected participants’ perspectives on reports through semistructured interviews and modified them accordingly. In phase II, refined reports were evaluated in a survey that included demographics, validated measures of health and graph literacy, and items to assess preferences and comprehension of reports. Surveys were administered using a think-aloud protocol. Results Fifty-five English- and Spanish-speaking end users, 89.1% of whom had limited health literacy, participated. In phase I, experts recommended improvements and 20 end users evaluated reports. From the feedback received, we added emojis, changed date and font formats, and simplified the y-axis scale of reports. In phase II, 35 end users evaluated refined designs, of whom 94.3% preferred reports with emojis, the favorite being a bar graph combined with emojis, which also promoted comprehension. In both phases, participants literally interpreted reports and provided suggestions for future visualizations. Conclusions A bar graph combined with emojis was participants’ preferred format and the one that promoted comprehension. Target end users must be included in visualization design to identify literal interpretations of images and ensure final products are meaningful.

Human Factors and Organizational Issues in Health Informatics: Innovations and Opportunities

“…Many studies focused on the creation and evaluation of customized data displays. These customized data displays also focused on a diverse set of application areas, including integrated dashboards [ 10 , 61 , 124 ], critical care displays [ 96 ], opioid management [ 123 ], plan of care tools [ 125 ], and patient-focused communication [ 11 , 55 , 98 ]. A smaller number of studies addressed non-EHR integrated information systems [ 9 , 65 , 68 , 83 , 112 , 120 ], and EHR training design [ 46 , 59 , 135 ].…”

“…Mobile apps [105,113] [17,29,69,70,81,87,91,99,118,119,126,129,33,130,132,142, 34,36,37,49,50,53,67] [ 10,11,92,96,98,[123][124][125][50][51][52]55,61,66,72,84] [ 13,15,47,54,[56][57][58]63,75,85,108,110,23,[115][116][117]121,122,127,131,[25][26][27]30,35,40,41] Fig. 2 Relative weighting of HF/E outcomes by domain [1].…”

Human Factors and Organizational Issues Section Synopsis IMIA Yearbook 2021

“…Two of the four selected best papers fell into this category; the Reading-Turchioe et al paper [ 3 ] focused on presenting healthcare data to patients while the Tschandl et al [ 4 ] paper focused on presenting results from AI models for diagnosing skin lesions. In addition, Stonbraker et al [ 5 ] designed a thorough study of data presentations of longitudinal patient reported outcomes to determine which ones promoted the best comprehension. They found that patients interpreted the visualizations very literally and that while they preferred bar charts with emojis, they could confuse the meaning of the emojis if they were not precisely tailored to the symptom or outcome they were representing.…”

User-Centered App Design for Acutely Ill Children and Adolescents

“…Furthermore, by adding features such as symptom emojis, children and adolescents are able to easily use a familiar and common communication tool. Emojis, expressive symbols used in everyday life, may offer a new way to communicate the symptom experience (Stonbraker et al, 2019), particularly for children and adolescents.…”

“…Emojis are pictographs that represent emotions, feelings, and moods through facial expressions (Jaeger et al, 2017; Kralj Novak et al, 2015). They are likable, popular, and easy-to-understand communication tools (Kralj Novak et al, 2015; Stonbraker et al, 2019; Thompson et al, 2018) and provide an easy way for children and adolescents to express themselves. Current research shows that emojis can be especially useful for expressing symptoms (Thompson et al, 2018), and efforts are underway to demonstrate that emojis are a valid and reliable measure of patient well-being (Jaeger et al, 2017; Tandyonomanu & Tsuroyya, 2018).…”