At-risk adolescents as experts in a new requirements elicitation procedure for the development of a smart phone psychoeducational trauma-informed care application

ABSTRACT

Background/Purpose: Adolescents from urban, socioeconomically disadvantaged communities of color encounter high rates of adverse childhood experiences. To address the resulting multidimensional problems, we developed an innovative approach, Experiential Participatory and Interactive Knowledge Elicitation (EPIKE), using remote experiential needs elicitation methods to generate design and content requirements for a mobile health (mHealth) psychoeducational intervention. Methods: At a community-based organization in a northeastern city, the research team developed EPIKE by incorporating elicitation of input on the graphics and conducting remotely recorded experiential meetings and iterative reviews of the design to produce an mHealth smartphone story application (app) prototype for the participants to critique. The 22 participants were 13- to 17-year-olds, predominantly African American and female, from underresourced communities. Results: The four goals of the design process were attained: 1) story development from participant input; 2) needs-elicitation that reflected the patient-centered care approach; 3) interactive story game creation that accommodates the participants’ emotional and cognitive developmental needs; 4) development of a game that adolescents can relate to and that which matches their comfort levels of emotional intensity. Conclusions: The EPIKE approach can be used successfully to identify the needs of adolescents across the digital divide to inform the design and development of mHealth apps.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent behavior
• adolescent
• adverse childhood experience
• mHealth application
• software design
• trauma-informed care

Acknowledgments

Alliance for Positive Health formerly known as the AIDS of Northeastern New York in Albany, NY; Natalie Lyon, Nicole Vecere, Desirée Lim, and Chelsea Myers for game production; Barbara Granger for editorial assistance; and Kathryn Howarth and Elizabeth Nolan for formatting assistance.

Declaration of interest

The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.

Funding

This study has been funded by College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University.

Additional information

Funding

This study has been funded by College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University.