Usability of a Home-Use Blood Pressure Monitor System: An Evaluation of the Device and Instructional Materials

Abstract

Although advancements in home-use technologies have allowed users to take control over how they monitor their health, their likely inexperience with such technologies can lead to use errors. The study aimed to determine the usability of a home-use blood pressure monitor, which included the device and instructional materials. Nineteen participants completed a 45-minute study which included an out-of-the-box handling scenario without moderator facilitation. The primary goal of this scenario was to determine if participants would be able to classify their heart rate reading obtained from the heart rate monitor as either low, average, or high in accordance to the thresholds set by the device. Although a majority of users were able to complete the use scenario, users nonetheless experienced major use errors and had difficulty with correctly placing the blood pressure cuff on their arm or inadvertently inflated the cuff when simply trying to turn on the device. There were also differences in the instructional materials such as how users should place the cuff around their arm. These inconsistencies were exacerbated by ambiguous wording without any pictorial clarifications. Additionally, 10% of users were unable to locate information on how to interpret their blood pressure readings. These findings highlight the importance of studying the usability of at-home blood pressure monitors to ensure more accurate health monitoring of users.