Evaluation of Mobile Health Program for HIV Prevention in Diverse Young Men of Multiple Ethnic Backgrounds
The MyPEEPS Mobile app, a mobile Web application developed from an evidence-based, face-to-face HIV prevention curriculum, has been evaluated in a recent study for its usability from both expert and end-user perspectives.
The testing, which took place in New York, NY, Birmingham, AL, and Chicago, IL, involved 20 young men aged 15 to 18 years. Experts, including five informatics specialists, conducted a heuristic evaluation to identify violations of usability principles. They rated the severity of these violations on a scale from 0 (no problem) to 4 (usability catastrophe), with scores ranging between 0.4 and 2.6, indicating mostly minor to moderate issues.
Meanwhile, end users successfully completed tasks associated with use case scenarios, offering valuable feedback and recommendations for improvement. User feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with young men expressing strong appreciation for the app's quality and features. They praised the app concept for enabling online consultations anywhere and constructively suggested additions such as a written chat feature.
The mean of the overall Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire scores rated by end users was 1.63 (SD 0.65), indicating strong user acceptance of the app. This demonstrates that MyPEEPS Mobile is effective and usable in delivering HIV prevention information, with both experts and users validating its design and functionality while highlighting areas for enhancement to further improve user experience.
No conflicting findings or significant negative usability reports were noted in the available recent study. The next step is a pilot study aimed at assessing the acceptability of MyPEEPS Mobile across diverse sexual minority young men in their everyday lives.
Mobile health (mHealth) apps, such as MyPEEPS Mobile, have the potential to deliver HIV prevention information effectively, making it an essential tool in the fight against the spread of HIV among young people.
In the context of the MyPEEPS Mobile app's usability evaluation, experts in data and cloud computing, employing heuristic evaluation methods, identified minor to moderate usability issues, mainly through a scale rating system ranging from 0.4 to 2.6.
End users, young men aged 15 to 18 years, offered constructive feedback, praising the app's quality and features while suggesting additions such as a written chat feature, integrating it into the realm of health-and-wellness and fitness-and-exercise apps.
The positive user feedback is evidenced by the mean Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire score of 1.63 (SD 0.65), implying strong acceptance and suggesting that MyPEEPS Mobile can play a significant role in disseminating HIV prevention information among young people, also benefiting mental health through technological advancements in media analytics.
The study's findings highlight the potential of mobile health apps like MyPEEPES in the science of health-and-wellness, contributing to the fighting of HIV spread among young people, and paving the way for future mobile app development in the field of fitness-and-exercise and other health-related domains.
