Heuristic Evaluation of Healthy Eating Apps for Older Adults

Abstract

The benefits of fruits and vegetables for older adults include reducing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Tablets like the iPad can promote healthy behaviors, but usability issues for older adults remain unclear. Three experts evaluated five iPad apps related to fruit and vegetable intake using heuristics adapted from existing heuristics. Eight problems emerged: 1) icons use symbols and text with little connection to functionality; 2) unfamiliar symbols; 3) unnecessary steps required to complete tasks; 4) few accessibility features; 5) small text; 6) insufficient color contrast; 7) insufficient instructional features; and 8) unlabeled advertising. Design recommendations are presented for each problem.

KEYWORDS:

• eHealth
• computer literacy
• telemedicine
• aging

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Brook Bender for her editorial review of an earlier version of this manuscript.

Notes

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/wchi.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ivan Watkins

Ivan Watkins ([email protected]) is a Doctoral Student in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin, 1616 Guadalupe Street, Austin, TX 78701. He received his MLIS from the University of Maryland in 2011 and a JD from Tulane University.

Bill Kules

Dr. Bill Kules ([email protected]) is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Library and Information Science (LIS) at The Catholic University of America, 620 Michigan Ave., N.E, Washington, D.C. 20064. Before joining Catholic University, Dr. Kules spent 20 years designing and implementing information systems for a variety of applications, including wireless telephony, customer service, banking, and multimedia web sites. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Maryland in 2006.

Xiaojun Yuan

Xiaojun Yuan ([email protected]) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Studies at the University of Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Ave, Albany, NY 12222.

Bo Xie

Bo Xie ([email protected]) is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin, 110 Inner Campus Dr., Austin, TX, 78712. She received her Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, her MS in Psychology from Peking University, and her B.Med.Sci. from the West China School of Medicine in Chengdu, China. Her research focuses on health informatics interventions that can promote older adults' use of information and communication technologies for health information, communication, and decision-making (i.e., e-health literacy) that can have important implications for patient-provider relationships and health outcomes. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health.