Presentation of Personal Health Information for Consumers: An Experimental Comparison of Four Visualization Formats

Abstract

While the development of consumer-oriented health information technologies (CHITs) has led to increased availability and accessibility of personal health information, consumers may encounter difficulty in comprehending the information, partly due to inappropriate information presentation. This study was conducted to compare four visualization formats of personal health information in consumers’ use and comprehension of the information. A within-subjects design was employed, with visualization format serving as independent variable, and sets of user performance, perception, eye movement and preference measures serving as dependent variables. Twenty-four participants were recruited in this study. The results indicated that there was no significant main effect of visualization format on task completion time and accuracy rate, while visualization format yielded a significant effect on perceived health risk, perceived ease of understanding, perceived usefulness, perceived confidence of comprehension, and satisfaction. Participants’ visual attention, indicated by eye movement measures, was significantly affected by areas of interest, but not by visualization format. Most participants preferred personalized enhanced format. Our study demonstrates that visualization formats could affect how personal health information are comprehended and perceived. The results may help to improve the design of more usable and effective health information presentation.