Towards a design process for mHealth application development: evaluating usability in light of digital health literacy

• Hugo Miranda de Oliveira UFG
• Filipe dos Anjos UFG
• Luciana da Mata UFMG
• Luciana Berretta UFG
• Sergio T. Carvalho UFG

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbcas.2024.2767

Abstract

With the increase in mobile devices, there has been a greater demand for tools that assist in daily human activities, especially in critical areas such as health. It is clear, however, that there needs to be more in the design processes for developing mobile health applications (mHealth) that consider usability heuristics and digital health literacy guidelines. This characterizes a challenge for systems applied to mobile health, as this gap can affect usability, communication, and the user/patient experience in managing their health self-care, especially in a target audience such as the elderly. This article proposes a design process for developing mobile health applications focusing on usability and digital health literacy. The main objective is to enable a new way of developing mobile applications for specific audiences that require particular attention, especially regarding more effective communication with elderly users/patients.

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