Blockchain PHR App
Measuring consumer trust in personal health records game-changer,
The University of Texas at Austin (2021)
SITUATION
Academic researchers needed to know how users felt about blockchain technology when it's used to manage personal health information.
Background
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin were developing an app to enable patients to manage their personal health records (PHRs) and securely share that information with healthcare providers via blockchain technology. This addressed the issues of siloed records, interoperability, information security, and manual processes. However, they needed to know how the app would perform with users before finalizing the design for development.
Research Questions
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Do the designs successfully explain how the app protects a user's information?
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Do the designs clearly communicate what blockchain is?
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Can users navigate the app and know how to use key features?
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Would users want to use this app?
Challenges
Limited access to target users / inequitable sample
Remote sessions only
Team members taking turns moderating and notetaking
Risks
Due to our limitations as students, there was the risk of gathering incomplete data and therefore generating inaccurate insights and recommendations.
TASK
As a UX researcher on a team of 4, I helped plan and execute a usability study and led the presentation design of recommendations.
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Team: UX generalist (me), 3 other UX graduate students
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My Tasks: Heuristic evaluations, competitive research, research study design (participant quotas, screener survey, remote usability testing, SUS questionnaire, usability note-taking management, thematic analysis), and design of readout presentation
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Tools: Figma, FigJam, Zoom, Google Docs, Google Sheets
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Deliverables: Presentation of findings and recommendations
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Timeline: Sept - Dec 2021
Excerpts from the usability report.
ACTION 1
Usability testing (+ post-test questions and SUS questions) revealed most participants liked the idea of the app, but 5/12 participants had security and privacy concerns.
Frequency of clinic visits: 9/12 participants visit more than 1 clinic per year.
Technical knowledge: Most are average or above average users of mobile applications (use daily), but only 1/3 had knowledge about blockchain.
User-approved concept: Most participants understood the concept of the application from the screens and liked the idea of storing medical information and not having to fill out paperwork unnecessarily.
Data privacy and security: 5 out of 12 participants had concerns about security and privacy, such as sharing medical information and keeping their data safe in the app.
Safe/desired feature: 3 participants were concerned with sharing their driver's license information through the app but are fine with sharing insurance information.
Transparency: Participants would like clarity on what happens to the information and what it is used for.
Tasks in order of average difficulty rating:
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(3.58 / 5) Disconnect from a clinic
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(3.92 / 5) Send requested info for verification
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(4.08 / 5) Update driver's license
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(4.17 / 5) Add a clinic
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(4.42 / 5) Consent to research study
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(4.75 / 5) Register
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(4.9 / 5) Switching users
ACTION 2
Based on findings, we recommended to improve security visibility, simplify info sharing, streamline document updates, and ensure consistent and intuitive navigation.
1. Reassure users that their information is private and secure, especially when sharing it with clinics.
You can add security tags, proof of verifiable credentials (VCs), icons indicating security at key moments, informative messaging, and tool tips where helpful.
2. Help users understand that they are able to selectively share individual chunks of their information.
If you use the word "attributes" more consistently and visibly in the UI, the users may learn what it means. Or you can try another term, such as "data points" or "info fields". Perhaps label sections with the term so it's clear what the term refers to.
3. Simplify method of updating driver's license and other documents while assuring information security.
Provide users with an option to autofill fields on the DL by scanning. Additionally, provide users with an accessible and detailed FAQ explaining topics such as the security and privacy blockchain offers.
4. Make the QR scanner easier to identify and scan process more intuitive.
Use a camera icon, QR icon, or use the word "scan" in the UI. Consider changing the confirmation phrase from "Requested" to "Connection request sent. Waiting for confirmation."
5. Make disconnecting more intuitive, the clinic card look more clickable and provide users with confirmation.
Instead of having 3 dot icon up top, allow users to click the card of the clinic itself to view information about the clinic or to disconnect from it.
6. Use standard and consistent UI patterns for navigation so that finding things can be more intuitive.
Keep a consistent approach to the header and place tabs below instead of in place of the header. Add in dropdown icon for state (Texas) when filling out profile. Improve clarity on top and bottom navigation tabs.
RESULT
Researchers leveraged recommendations and
published a peer-reviewed paper.
Bautista, J. R., Harrell, D. T., Hanson, L., de Oliveira, E., Abdul-Moheeth, M., Meyer, E. T., & Khurshid, A. (2023). MediLinker: a blockchain-based decentralized health information management platform for patient-centric healthcare. Frontiers in Big Data, 6, DOI:10.3389/fdata.2023.1146023
RELEVANCE
Patient-centric health tech only works if people trust it and can actually use it. The UI had to earn trust rather than just promise "blockchain security."
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De-risked development by catching trust + workflow breakdowns before build.
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Validated a core adoption barrier: users wanted clarity on what happens to their data and how sharing works.
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Gave the team a prioritized fix list by pinpointing where the experience was hardest (e.g., switching users, registration, consenting, adding a clinic, updating ID).
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Fed directly into ongoing product evolution: the MediLinker team explicitly continued UI/UX improvements and usability studies (including studies with patients + healthcare staff to adjust the app and identify workflow issues).
EVOLUTION
Need for clearer communication, broader participant diversity, and transparency about limitations
Lead with consolidated recommendations
Begin reports with a summary of action items so stakeholders can quickly grasp the next steps.
Expand recruitment methods
For future studies, broaden the recruitment methods to include a more diverse participant pool, especially people outside researchers' personal networks.
Diversify demographics and preempt bias
Make an extra effort to include participants from a wider range of age groups, backgrounds, and abilities, ensuring a more representative sample. Recruit participants less connected to researchers to reduce biases
