Usability Inspection of Multipurpose Scalable Informed Consent Platform

摘要

We developed a multipurpose scalable electronic informed consent platform (E-Consent) which is reusable for any informed consent in a multitude of settings. The platform allows research staff to easily upload multimedia information about a research protocol with an approved informed consent into the system, which delivers this content interactively for prospective study candidates in a user-friendly way. Consistent with user-centered design, E-Consent underwent usability inspection via cognitive walkthroughs accompanied by surveys that captured task complexity on a 5-point Likert-type scale. The System Usability Scale (SUS) provided a standardized reference for usability and satisfaction. Overall, the E-Consent framework was considered by participants to be easy-to-use, satisfying, and timely, while delivering complex information such as that on a consent form. E-Consent ranked in the top 10th percentile for usability as measured by SUS. This extensible framework successfully delivered complex information and recorded user consents, all in an easy-to-understand and highly usable fashion.