User Experience in Health & Medicine: Building Methods for Patient Experience Design in Multidisciplinary Collaborations

Abstract

Health and medical contexts have emerged as an important area of inquiry for researchers at the intersection of user experience and technical communication. In addressing this intersection, this article advocates and extends patient experience design or PXD ( Melonçon, 2017 ) as an important framework for user experience research within health and medicine. Specifically, this article presents several PXD insights from a task-based usability study that examined an online intervention program for people with voice problems. We respond to Melonçon's call ( 2017 ) to build PXD as a framework for user experience and technical communication research by describing ways traditional usability methods can provide PXD insights and asking the following question: What insights can emerge from combining traditional usability methods and PXD research? In addressing this question, we outline two primary methodological and practical considerations we found central to conducting PXD research: (1) engaging patients as participants, and (2) leveraging multidisciplinary collaboration.

REDCap Delivery of a Web-Based Intervention for Patients With Voice Disorders: Usability Study

“…Complications arose in terms of site location—the campus was unfamiliar to most participants and campus sporting events caused disruptions to driving routes and parking availability—therefore, for the last 2 tests, we moved to a research suite closer to the voice clinic familiar to participants, although the suite did not include high-quality data recording or a one-way mirror. We have discussed these challenges in greater detail elsewhere [ 27 ].…”

“…A moderator facilitated each usability test and asked participants to complete each task using a think-aloud protocol (in which participants share their thoughts as they work through the task [ 25 ]). An additional research question, which focused on understanding patient experiences with the intervention, was added during usability testing [ 27 ].…”

“…Debriefing interviews included 5 open-ended questions asking participants to describe their initial impressions, how those impressions changed as they used the intervention, what they liked least and best, and what they would change if they could ( Multimedia Appendix 2 ). In combination with the think-aloud protocol, the debriefing interview allowed for insights into participants’ health care-related contexts of use and engagement with intervention content [ 27 ].…”

Applying user Experience Principles to Food Distribution in Nursing Homes

“…While there are various systems in nursing homes affecting an individuals' quality of life, food service quality proves to be of significance in longterm care facilities (Jeong & Seo, 2014). Accordingly, the evaluation of patient experiences (PX) within healthcare can improve the overall engagement, respectfulness, and responsiveness of food service systems through demonstrating relationships among human activities, perspectives, and satisfaction with information or technology (Kessler et al, 2021).…”

Extending Design Thinking, Content Strategy, and Artificial Intelligence into Technical Communication and User Experience Design Programs: Further Pedagogical Implications

“…As part of the same special issue collection, Lanius et al (2021) demonstrated some aspects of this foregrounding exercise by showcasing current trends in UX methods and their implications for TPC practice. Two other entries in the special issue applied UX methods in healthcare and patient experience contexts (Kessler et al, 2021; St.Amant, 2021). Both of these entries showed the applicability of UX in medical settings, a research space familiar to TPC scholars.…”