Web-Based Module for the Collection of Electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes in People Living With HIV in Nouvelle Aquitaine, France: Usability Evaluation

BACKGROUND: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) can be of great value for both research and chronic disease management. We developed a new module of the ANRS CO3 Aquitaine cohort study’s Web-based data capture and visualization solution (APPEGE 2.0) for the collection of electronic PROs among people living with HIV cared for in Nouvelle Aquitaine, France. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the usability of 2 successively developed prototypes of ARPEGE 2.0’s electronic PROs module before launching a pilot study, owing to the novelty of the proposed data collection method for our setting and specific characteristics of the target population. METHODS: A total of 2 sequential rounds of empirical, task-based usability evaluations were conducted, involving 8 research staff and then 7 people living with HIV. Evaluators provided written feedback during round 1 and oral feedback during round 2. Evaluators who completed the full set of tasks responded to the System Usability Scale (SUS). We assessed changes in SUS scores between rounds and concluded usability testing when SUS scores reached a ceiling effect, defining good usability a priori as a usability score of 70. RESULTS: Insights were generated regarding the visibility of system status and the match between the system and the real world that improved the module’s usability. Research staff evaluators reported mean SUS scores of 65 (SD 18.87) and patient evaluators reported mean SUS scores of 85 (SD 5.4; P=.032). CONCLUSIONS: Software modifications, informed by successive rounds of usability testing, resulted in sufficient gains in usability to undertake piloting. Insights generated during evaluations prompted us to find the appropriate balance between optimal security and ease of use. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03296202; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03296202 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/10.2196/resprot.9439