Usability Testing of an Interactive Communication Tool to Help Children Express Their Cancer Symptoms

Abstract

Children's positive responses and desire to use Sisom again suggest that future research should be directed toward implementing and evaluating its effectiveness in a variety of settings.

“Tell it as it is”: How Sisom prompts children and parents to discuss their cancer experience

“…Despite the extensive testing of Sisom in Norway, Sweden, and the United States, linguistic validation and usability testing for use within a Canadian context were warranted prior to implementing into practice . Preliminary work in Canada concurred with prior US findings that children with cancer like Sisom and would like to use the program to express their symptoms to their parents and clinicians in varying settings (eg, home, school, and hospital) .…”

“…Following institutional review board (IRB) approvals from the study sites, a secondary analysis of two qualitative descriptive studies was conducted . The sample consisted of children who participated in the linguistic validation and usability testing of Sisom . Participants were recruited from three university‐affiliated health centers located in two major urban Canadian cities.…”

“…This tool was created to encourage children, aged six to 13, to actively participate in their own care building on previous research showcasing that their health information can be reliably and validly collected . Since the development, global research efforts have contributed to linguistically validating, testing the usability, optimizing the design, and evaluating the use of Sisom in practice …”

“…In the United States, parents often interrupted the testing but also the children sought their input . These findings informed the usability testing in Canada and incorporated parental input after the testing unless prompted by the interviewer or child . Recognizing the important role parents may play to help children, an in‐depth exploration of these questions, concerns, and comments arising during the testing was warranted.…”

“…Recognizing the important role parents may play to help children, an in‐depth exploration of these questions, concerns, and comments arising during the testing was warranted. Thus, the purpose of this secondary analysis of two qualitative data sources was to describe what questions, concerns, and comments unfolded between children and their parents during the children's use of Sisom within a research context …”