Culture in the design of mHealth UI:An effort to increase acceptance among culturally specific groups

Purpose: Designers of mobile applications have long understood the importance of users’ preferences in making the user experience easier, convenient and therefore valuable. The cultural aspects of groups of users are among the key features of users’ design preferences, because each group’s preferences depend on various features that are culturally compatible. The process of integrating culture into the design of a system has always been an important ingredient for effective and interactive human computer interface. This study aims to investigate the design of a mobile health (mHealth) application user interface (UI) based on Arabic culture. It was argued that integrating certain cultural values of specific groups of users into the design of UI would increase their acceptance of the technology. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 135 users responded to an online survey about their acceptance of a culturally designed mHealth. Findings: The findings showed that culturally based language, colours, layout and images had a significant relationship with users’ behavioural intention to use the culturally based mHealth UI. Research limitations/implications: First, the sample and the data collected of this study were restricted to Arab users and Arab culture; therefore, the results cannot be generalized to other cultures and users. Second, the adapted unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model was used in this study instead of the new version, which may expose new perceptions. Third, the cultural aspects of UI design in this study were limited to the images, colours, language and layout. Practical implications: It encourages UI designers to implement the relevant cultural aspects while developing mobile applications. Originality/value: Embedding Arab cultural aspects in designing UI for mobile applications to satisfy Arab users and enhance their acceptance toward using mobile applications, which will reflect positively on their lives.</p

Examining the Impact of Culture and Language on the User Acceptance of the Media Website in Jordan

This study examines the website acceptance based on the information system quality and the impact of cultural dimensions and language components on the actual acceptance and usage of the identified media websites. Based on the data from three groups of users, namely the users of bbc.com to represent the purely English media websites, the al-jazeera.com representing the semi-localized media website and the al-rai.com representing the local websites. Questionnaires were administered to 420 internet users in different regions in Jordan. The questionnaire measures nine parameters which include the system accessibility, the response time, information quality, cultural adaptation, Arabic language, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitudes towards using the websites and the behavioral intention to use the websites. Capitalizing on the quantitative research methodology by expanding the technology acceptance model for the research framework, the findings showed that the cultural dimensions of power distance, collectivism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance have the positive impact on the Jordanian users’ preference of the media websites. The conclusions are drawn from the positive impact of cultural adaptation on the perceived ease of use of the local websites and also on the users’ attitudes towards the use of the local websites. However, there is a negative impact based on the lack of cultural adaptation on the users’ attitudes towards the use of English originated websites. Similarly, there is no significant impact of the cultural adaptation on the users’ attitudes towards the use of the semi- localized websites. The research findings showed that the websites’ information system quality, the Arabic language usage and the Arabic cultural adaptation have positive impacts on the Jordanian users’ perceptions and acceptance in choosing the media websites as preferred websites

Undergraduates’ interest towards learning genetics concepts through integrated stemproblem based learning approach

Scientific and innovative society can be produced by giving priorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) as emphasized by Malaysian Higher Education Blueprint (2015-2025). STEM need to be implemented at higher education because universities need to produce competent graduates to support economy growth and sustainable development. Learning STEM through Problem Based Learning might allow the undergraduates to become more enthusiastic when problem-based instruction is incorporated with STEM by implementing teamwork and problem-solving techniques to engage the first-year undergraduates fully with the learning. This study was conducted to investigate whether Integrated STEM Problem Based Learning module could enhance and retain the interest towards genetics concepts among first-year undergraduates. Topics in genetics was considered difficult not only to teach but also to learn. In this research, to overcome the genetic concepts learning difficulties, genetic related topics were chosen to introduce STEM through problem-based learning approach, which might help first-year undergraduates to acquire deep genetic content knowledge. This is very vital for the first-year undergraduates, as the knowledge gained in their first semester will be applied in the upcoming courses in their entire undergraduates’ programs of study. A Pre-Experimental research design with one group-posttest design was applied. A total of 50 participants who are first-year undergraduates from Faculty of Biology from one of the public universities in Malaysia were involved. The Genetics Interest Questionnaire used to study if the STEM Problem Based Learning module could enhance and retain the interest towards genetics concepts. The research has proven that Integrated STEM through problem-based learning approach could enhance and retains the interest in learning genetics concepts among first-year undergraduates

Evaluating hospital websites in Kuwait to improve consumer engagement and access to health information:a cross-sectional analytical study

Abstract Background Current advances in information and communication technology have made accessing and obtaining health-related information easier than ever before. Today, many hospital websites use a patient-centric approach to promote engagement and encourage learning for better health-related decision making. However, little is known about the current state of hospital websites in the State of Kuwait. This study aims to evaluate hospital websites in Kuwait and offer recommendations to improve patient engagement and access to health information. Methods This study employs a cross-sectional analytical approach to evaluate hospital websites in Kuwait in 2017. The websites of hospitals that provide in-patient services were identified through a structured search. Only active websites that were available in either English or Arabic were considered. The evaluation of the websites involved a combination of automated and expert- based evaluation methods and was performed across four dimensions: Accessibility, Usability, Presence, and Content. Results Nine hospitals met the inclusion criteria. Most of the websites fell short in all four dimensions. None of the websites passed the accessibility guidelines. The usability of websites varied between hospitals. Overall, the majority of hospitals in Kuwait have rudimentary online presence and their websites require careful reassessment with respect to design, content, and user experience. The websites focus primarily on promoting services provided by the hospital rather than engaging and communicating with patients or providing evidence-based information. Conclusions Healthcare organization and website developers should follow best-practices to improve their websites taking into consideration the quality, readability, objectivity, coverage and currency of the information as well as the design of their websites. Hospitals should leverage social media to gain outreach and better engagement with consumers. The websites should be offered in additional languages commonly spoken by people living in Kuwait. Efforts should be made to ensure that health information on hospital websites are evidence-based and checked by healthcare professionals