ProbinShasthoBondhu: A User-Centered mHealth App for Enhancing Elderly Health Management in Bangladesh

Abstract

Current global demographic changes require the expansion of healthcare technologies, as seniors are more vulnerable to chronic diseases and mental illness, impacting their strength, mobility, and physical and mental well-being. As a result, seniors using smartphones require specific apps for physical and mental health, as well as emergency medical care. This work presents a methodical approach to designing a specific healthcare and fitness app dedicated to seniors while focusing on a user-centered design (UCD) strategy as well as studying their characteristics through surveys. The development of `ProbinShasthoBondhu', a Bangla mobile health (mHealth) app aimed at Bangladeshi seniors, is presented here. It includes a variety of personalized features, such as various exercises like cardio and yoga, meditation techniques, medication management tools, and an emergency SOS button to quickly seek medical assistance. To test the usability and user experience of ProbinShasthoBondhu, several usability scales were used, including the System Usability Scale (SUS) and User Experience Questionnaire Short version (UEQ-S). The results show a favorable overall SUS score of 60.3, indicating good usability. This study adds to the expanding literature on healthcare technologies for seniors by demonstrating the ability of UCDs to meet their specific requirements and ensure that mHealth apps will be more effective in promoting their health and well-being.

CCDS Authors

Ashraful Islam, PhD

Center DirectorDirector, Human-Computer Interaction Wing

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