New on-going research on user experiences of online health self-assessment tests

Researchers at Åbo Akademi University are investigating the needs and usability of e-Health services in a four-year Academy of Finland funded research project Taking health information behavior into account (HIBA). Currently, as a part of the project, Dr. Hai Nguyen, is investigating the use and usability of popular online health self-assessment tests. An example of the studied self-assessments is the diabetes risk test of the Diabetes Association (https://www.diabetes.fi/riskitesti).

“There are major expectations of the impact of e-Health services. They are typically seen as a central instrument for engaging people to take more active care of their health. Online self-assessments have been expected to help people to learn more about their conditions in order to take an active role in managing their health” notes the director of the HIBA project Isto Huvila, professor in Information Studies at Åbo Akademi University and Uppsala University.

Despite anticipated benefits and usefulness of online self-assessments, this type of e-Health services have not been researched to a great extent. In the on-going survey study directed by Dr. Nguyen, researchers attempt to address the widespread problems of non-use and uneven adoption of e-health services by studying how a better understanding of user experiences and health information behavior can help in designing and providing more useful e-Health services.

In order to obtain as much data as possible, Dr. Nguyen invites everyone to try the self-assessment and afterwards, participate in an e-Health Survey focusing on the online self-assessments. Information about the study and access to the online survey are available at http://blogs2.abo.fi/hiba/about-hiba/kysely/

Dr. Nguyen who directs the survey study explains that the survey investigates the impact of health information seeking habits on e-Health services and how they are perceived, and identifies opportunities to improve e-Health services based on community needs and population demographics.

The survey will provide unique data that will make it easier than ever to inform and educate e-health stakeholders about people opinion on e-Health services.

Updates and related news will also be available at http://blogs2.abo.fi/hiba/

More information on the study and interviews:
PhD. Hai Nguyen
Email: thinguye@abo.fi
tel. +358 2 215 4622

General information on the research project HIBA:
Project director, prof. Isto Huvila
Email: isto.huvila@abo.fi