| Description |
Amblyopia affects up to 2.5% of the population and is most successfully treated when detected early childhood. It is estimated, however, that fewer than 25% of preschool children in the United States are screened for vision problems by government or private programs. As a cost-effective solution, this project explored the delivery of preschool vision screenings, integrated with patient education, to parents and children, aged 3 to 6 years, over the World Wide Web. Five man development phases, based on techniques from the field of use-centered design, were accomplished. They included (1) user needs analysis, (2) requirements specification, (3) low-fidelity prototype development and exploratory testing, (4) high-fidelity prototype development and assessment testing, and (5) final usability verification testing. Fifty parents and children, aged 3 to 6 years, were recruited through an ophthalmology clinical patient base and acquaintances to participate in the study. All interviews and usability testing involving study participants were conducted in the home environment. The result of the project was the creation of a highly usable vision screening test and education resource. The vision screening test portion of the Web site was implemented in Flash to provide motivational multimedia content an included randomized test images and automated scoring and recommendations. The test was easy to se up, requiring less than 5 min and common household materials. Interviewing and testing participants in the home were essential in gathering accurate data about actual test environments and using the tool under distraction. Frequent iterations of designing, testing, and modifying the tool was useful in identifying and correcting usability problems. Usability and acceptance goals were set early in the project, and in the final phase a satisfaction questionnaire was administered to participants, With the exception of test length, all goals were achieved. The limitation of the study included the following: (1) the accuracy of the vision test has not yet been validated against a standard ophthalmological exam; (2) the small number of study participants prevents broad generalization; and (3a0 bias was introduced by the investigator simultaneously playing roles of designer, developer, and usability specialist. |
