Care Teams FWG User Research Trip Report
Date October 9-20, 2023
Location Kenya and Uganda
Participants 78 Community Health workers and 11 CHW Supervisors
Background
From the 9th of October through to the 20th, our Care Teams Focused Working Group took a trip to East Africa, visiting our users across Kenya and Uganda to learn more about their experience with the CHT. In collaboration with our partners, Living Goods and the Ministry of Health in Kenya and Uganda, we conducted several user research activities, speaking with over 80 users. This trip aimed to understand our users’ experience in various aspects, such as work planning, errors, and app security, just to mention a few. In addition, we also wanted to communicate the new UI changes, mainly, the new navigation that the team is currently working on to give the CHT a much cleaner interface, align it more closely with Android UX, and allow for future scalability should additional pages be introduced to the app.
Methodology
User Interviews (89 participants)
Usability test (78 participants)
Customer Effort Score Survey (78 participants)
User Interviews
The objective was to understand users’ experiences with work planning, user errors, app security and also to get general feedback on their pain points, challenges, goals and motivations. Below is some of the feedback we heard that surprised us and provided new insights and potential opportunities to explore:
1. Work Planning
-
Some CHWs stated that they do not use the task list at all, but rather plan and prioritize their work by patient needs (ex, high risk pregnancy first time mother > high risk pregnancy > pregnancy).
-
Some CHWs add numbers to household names in the app in order of geographic proximity to help with planning based on distance.
-
CHWs use nicknames for patients with the same name (based on their jobs, or location landmarks ex. David Big Tree) to help them with recollection and of household location.
2. User Errors
-
CHWs make more errors at the beginning as they are onboarding but with time, learn how to catch errors faster.
-
Common mistakes made by CHWs included spelling mistakes, incorrect entries; which most stated are able to edit and correct on their own.
-
Some CHWs use the muting feature to ‘get rid’ of incorrect entries and enter the information again.
3. App Security
As we work towards improving the security of the CHT, we also wanted to assess and understand the security landscape of the CHT through the interviews. The insights shared showed that most CHWs understand their apps and devices’ security risks and vulnerabilities. All the CHWs we spoke to were familiar with pins and other additional measures for securing devices. Some of them stated that they also use additional third party security apps to add another layer of protection to their apps. While most take various steps to secure their devices and apps, there is a need for further learning and additional security measures to be put up that will be quickly learned and won’t impose further burden on the CHWs.
Usability Testing
Outcomes
Ease of use
Some of the feedback we heard:
- Users who stated that the current UI is easier to use mentioned that they had gotten accustomed to the current UI, hence the preference, but are willing to learn the new UI should it be introduced.
- Most CHWs stated that they had no preference as both UIs offered the very same experience and actions; except for the difference in the new menu which most users stated was the most notable difference.
- Some CHWs felt the new UI was more modern and looked like other apps on their phone.
Customer Effort Score Survey
| Aggregate Score | |
|---|---|
| Find the household you are looking for? | 4.7 |
| Find the patient you are looking for? | 4.5 |
| Find the task you want to do next? | 4.7 |
| Correct a mistake in your app? | 3.8 |
| Plan your work using your app? | 4.5 |
| Learn new changes to your app? | 3.9 |
| Keep track of the reports you submit? | 4.2 |
| Register a new household? | 4.9 |
1 - Extremely difficult; 5 - Extremely easy
Next Steps
We are continuously looking to hear more from our CHWs across all our regions and with various partners. In addition to speaking regularly with CHWs, we would also like to speak more to CHW Supervisors to fill the gaps in care provision on their end. If you are interested in collaborating with our team by connecting us remotely to your CHWs and CHW Supervisors, or to participate in usability studies, please leave a comment with a way to get in touch, or email ziithe@medic.org . We look forward to hearing from you!