Usability of a gamified antibiotic resistance awareness mobile application: A qualitative evaluation

Abstract

AbstractAntibiotic resistance has been one of the global health threats, yet the awareness of this issue remained low. Hence, an antibiotic resistance awareness app (Stop and End the Drastic Antibiotic Resistance [SEDAR]) was developed to improve public awareness of this issue. To identify the usability problems and improve the app's design before its deployment to the real user, a study on usability must be conducted. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the findings from the usability evaluation of the SEDAR app and present the necessary critical revisions made to improve the usability further. This study adopted guerrilla testing, observation, and retrospective probing methods to evaluate the usability of the SEDAR app. In total, eight participants were involved in this study. Based on the qualitative data, the SEDAR app has good usability. The participants found that it is easy to use, and the navigation within the app is straightforward. The information on antibiotics and antibiotic resistance conveyed through the app is easy to understand due to laymen's terms instead of using scientific terms. A substantial revision suggested by a few participants to further improve the SEDAR app was to add another language selection, the Malay language, to help local users with difficulties understanding English. The SEDAR app has acceptable usability. It is sufficient for users to learn more about antibiotics and antibiotic resistance as the app is easy to use and straightforward. The preliminary data suggested that SEDAR can potentially increase public awareness of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance.