Journal article
Usability of state public health department websites for communication during a pandemic: A heuristic evaluation
International journal of industrial ergonomics, Vol.86, pp.103216-103216
11/2021
DOI: 10.1016/j.ergon.2021.103216
PMCID: PMC8451240
PMID: 34566224
Abstract
Study aims were to investigate how usable COVID-19 dedicated state public health websites in the US were, and whether case counts in different geographical regions in the US were related to website usability. 16 state websites representing the 2 highest and the 2 lowest case count states in each region were selected. Five experts used a heuristic evaluation procedure to independently rate all 16 websites on a severity scale of 0–4. Usability criteria published by the US Department of Health and Human Services and criteria on risk communication and data dashboards were used. Analyses involved cross tabulation of usability criteria with case counts, comparison of usability scores using Mood's median tests, test of differences in average usability scores using ANOVA and post-hoc tests, and identification of correlations between case counts and usability scores. Results from the Mood's median test showed that the median usability scores for the states were significantly different from each other at the 5% level of significance (df = 15, chi-square = 38.40; p = 0.001). ANOVA showed statistically significant differences between the mean usability scores for the states at the 5% level of significance (F = 6.33, p < 0.05). Although not statistically significant, results from a correlation analysis between case count and usability scores showed a negative correlation (r = -0.209, p = 0.437) indicating that the higher the case count, the better the usability score. Overall, the websites fared well on usability, but many websites were used as an information and data repository. These websites must communicate infection risk better.
The study applies to public health agency websites that communicate essential information during a pandemic.
•COVID-dedicated public health websites fared adequately on usability.•COVID-websites were used as an information repository and as a daily data dump.•Websites did not consistently communicate infection risk or compliance behaviors.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Usability of state public health department websites for communication during a pandemic: A heuristic evaluation
- Creators
- Amirmasoud Momenipour - Rose–Hulman Institute of TechnologySalvador Rojas-Murillo - Hofstra UniversityBrandon Murphy - University of IowaPriyadarshini Pennathur - University of IowaArunkumar Pennathur - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- International journal of industrial ergonomics, Vol.86, pp.103216-103216
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ergon.2021.103216
- PMID
- 34566224
- PMCID
- PMC8451240
- NLM abbreviation
- Int J Ind Ergon
- ISSN
- 0169-8141
- eISSN
- 1872-8219
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 11/2021
- Academic Unit
- Industrial and Systems Engineering; Internal Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984187067102771
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