A design study of a digital tool for rehabilitation of dizziness

Abstract: Dizziness and other vestibular symptoms affect around five percent of the general population. As one grows older the risk for dizziness increases and the symptoms become more severe and frequent. Studies have shown that digital tools can be used effectively when treating these symptoms. By developing and implementing digital tools in healthcare, the effectiveness in healthcare can be improved and the work for healthcare professionals facilitated. YrselTräning is an application developed to help patients with rehabilitation of acute dizziness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usability of the application. We wanted to investigate how the usability of the prototype for the acute dizziness application can be improved based on users tests, cognitive theories and design principles. Five participants, two males and three females in the ages of 50-65, participated in the study. Qualitative data was obtained by conducting semi-structured interviews with direct observations, where the participants were asked to use the think-aloud-method. Quantitative data was collected with the lite version of the likert scale Usability metric for user experience (UMUX-LITE). The results showed that YrselTräning is an application with relatively good usability. The main concerns were regarding a lack of, or unclear instructions and feedback. A new design of the application was created that for example included added functions and modified instructions to improve the usability. Further research is required to evaluate and improve the new design of the application.