Ergonomic evaluation and design of a mobile application for maternal and infant health for smartphone users among lower-income class Filipinos

摘要

The Philippines has one of the highest birth rate in the world with 24.98 births per 1000 population. For every 1000 of these births, 35 suffer infant mortality. According to the Philippines' National Statistics Office, infant mortality results from lack of sufficient medical care before and after child delivery. An objective of this study was to evaluate an existing mobile application that can help disseminate important pregnancy information among low-income women in the Philippines. Using the ISO 9126 criteria for evaluation, the proponents evaluated the chosen pregnancy application and were able to identify the essential requirements needed by the five pregnant women chosen for the study. The results showed that the application met the users' needs under functionality with three out of five respondents giving a positive remark. Under reliability and usability on the other hand, the positive responses are relatively lower with 40% and 20% positive responses, respectively. Some problems that arose with the application included the users being unable to understand menu icons and options easily and the application being difficult to use for the first time. Another result of the survey showed that frequently asked questions about pre-, during, and post-pregnancy and additional functions like How-To tutorials on breastfeeding and diaper changing were very much needed by the respondents. With the main goal of this study being to design a new informative and comprehensive pregnancy application for Filipino women from low-income backgrounds, the results of the evaluation were critical. The results were used for the foremost purpose of the new application - Uyayi - that is, to provide necessary information about maternal and infant health for smartphone users among lower income class Filipinos while taking into consideration the functionality, reliability, and usability of the application in catering to the target user.