How online sexual health services could work; generating theory to support development.

BACKGROUND: Online sexual health services are an emerging area of service delivery. Theory of change critically analyses programmes by specifying planned inputs and articulating the causal pathways that link these to anticipated outcomes. It acknowledges the changing and contested nature of these relationships. METHODS: We developed two versions of a theory of change for an online sexual health service. The first articulated the theory presented in the original programme proposal and the second documented its development in the early stages of implementation through interviews with key programme stakeholders. RESULTS: The programme proposal described an autonomous and empowered user completing a sexual health check using a more convenient, accessible and discreet online service and a shift from clinic based to online care. The stakeholder interviews confirmed this and described new and more complex patterns of service use as the online service creates opportunities for providers to contact users outside of the traditional clinic visit and users move between online and clinic based care. They described new types of user/provider relationships which we categorised as: those influenced by an online retail culture; those influenced by health promotion outreach and surveillance and those acknowledging the need for supported access. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis of stakeholder views on the likely the impacts of online sexual health services suggests three areas for further thinking and research. 1. Co-development of clinic and online services to support complex patterns of service use. 2. Developing access to online services for those who could use them with support. 3. Understanding user experience of sexual health services as increasing user autonomy and choice in some situations; creating exclusion and a need for support in others and intrusiveness and a lack of control in still others. This work has influenced the evaluation of this programme which will focus on; mapping patterns of use to understand how users move between the online and clinic based services; barriers to use of online services among some populations and how to overcome these; understanding user perceptions of autonomy in relation to online services

Exploring a novel linked dataset and building linked data analytics skills in Public Health Intelligence teams in Sussex

Objectives Public health intelligence teams in Sussex wanted to use newly linked health and social care data, to gain insights into local patterns of multi-morbidity, service use, service provision and socio-demographic data. In this study we report initial exploration of this new linked dataset, in a partnership between university and local authority analysts. Approach The Sussex Integrated Dataset (SID) comprises person-level health and social care data on residents and services users across Sussex. During a 6-month secondment, two analysts evaluated the number of data sources available for each individual, evaluated data quality for identifying long-term conditions, developed presentation methods to compare SID outputs on demographics and condition prevalence with open source or expected distributions, and identified the skills-mix and infrastructure required in local authorities for future work. They worked alongside the SID data processing team to inform and improve data quality; and with university data-scientists to learn prediction modelling. Results Analysts established an efficient querying system to investigate the breadth of data available, more thoroughly focusing on encounters and demographic data in all sources. Long-term conditions were identified through code lists in a range of NHS data sources, to enable consideration of multi-morbidity by demographic. A range of quality issues were identified, such as non-current patients being uploaded into the SID, distorting prevalence estimates, and GP practice populations that did not match expected figures published by NHS digital. Results were represented in multi-morbidity plots, maps, and theographs. Through this data exploration, we have been able to identify the skills-mix needed for local Public Health Intelligence teams to maximise the use of linked data to achieve Public Health objectives. Conclusion We have made many conceptual breakthroughs, particularly in understanding data quality, however still need a more complete understanding of quality issues in SID for public health outputs to have meaningful use. Further investigation into the patterns of service use, as well as modelling of multi-morbidity to make predictions and target interventions, will be key next steps

Human Factors Criteria for Displays: A Human Factors Design Standard Update of Chapter 5

This document contains updates and expands the design criteria and information on displays from the Human Factors Design Standard. A research team of human factors experts evaluated the existing guidelines for relevancy, clarity, and usability. They drafted new guidelines as necessary based on relevant sources, and they reorganized the document to increase usability. This resulted in extensive changes to the original document including the addition of new guidelines, sources, and topic areas

Optimal Design of Event Lists (ODELS) Phase 1: Does List Format Facilitate Visual Search for Information?

This report documents the first in a series of studies on the optimal design of event lists (ODELs) for Technical Operations use. The ODELs study described in this report examines whether event list format has an impact on user performance when searching for information. The stimuli consisted of four different list formats: delineated, non-delineated, ledger shading, and white text on a blue background. These formats represented list formats currently in existence in the operational environment. Researchers measured task completion time, accuracy, and eye-scanning metrics such as number of fixations, fixation duration, blink frequency, pupil diameter, and number of reversals. Additionally, researchers collected subjective ratings of difficulty and preference rankings for each of the four conditions. The results indicated that the list design did not have a significant impact on task completion time or the number or duration of fixations. However, list design did appear to impact the error rate, subjective ratings of difficulty, and user preference. Participants made fewer errors in the ledger shading and delineated conditions, rated them as less difficult, and ranked them as most preferred

Human Factors Design Standard for Acquisition of Commercial-off-the-Shelf Subsystems, Non-Developmental Items, and Developmental Systems

The Human Factors Design Standard (HFDS) provides reference information to assist in the selection, analysis, design, development, and evaluation of new and modified Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) systems and equipment. This document is based largely on the 1996 Human Factors Design Guide (HFDG) produced by the FAA in 1996. It converts the original guidelines document to a standard and incorporates updated information, including the newly revised chapters on automation and human-computer interface. The updated document includes extensive reorganization of material based on user feedback on how the document has been used in the past. Additional information has been also been added to help the users better understand tradeoffs involved with specific design criteria. This standard covers a broad range of human factors topics that pertain to automation, maintenance, displays and printers, controls and visual indicators, alarms, alerts and voice output, input devices, workplace design, system security, safety, the environment, and anthropometry documentation. This document also includes extensive human-computer interface information

Visual Coding of Status for Technical Operations Systems

In order to monitor and control over 30,000 different services and equipment, Technical Operations (TO) specialists must be provided with clear and consistent methods for recognizing status quickly. Without specific guidance on status coding, each new system must come up with a strategy for conveying status information, leading to coding that is inconsistent with other systems and often inconsistent with human factors best practices. The purpose of this document is to promote consistency in the coding of status information used for monitoring and control at TO Service Operations Centers. This report defines the various terms used for status related events in TO, describes the TO work environment, describes current information displays used by TO, and explains how to use screen real estate to enhance user performance. This document also describes the various methods used to code status and provides explicit recommendations based on Human Factors best practices. If the course of action described in this report is successful, it will promote consistency in the coding of status information across systems. This can reduce the time needed to identify and react to a potential problem, minimizing the potential for outages and decreasing the impact of outages that do occur

Information Organization for a Portal Using A Card-Sorting Technique

The Office of Knowledge Management at the Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s William J. Hughes Technical Center asked researchers from the National Airspace System Human Factors Group to provide human factors input for a new enterprise information portal. The portal would contain a large amount of information. In order for the portal to be successful, the portal needed to provide information so that the users could easily find what they needed. Researchers from the William J. Hughes Technical Center used a simple method called a card sort to organize the information in a way that would reflect the mental model of the users. This document describes the card-sorting methodology. The researchers developed a set of information that potentially could be included in the portal through a combination of items identified by the sponsor as high priority items, information provided on the current employee intranet, and structured interviews with potential portal users. The researchers placed the information items on index cards. Participants representing various types of end users sorted the cards into categories and then named the categories. The researchers grouped similar categories and analyzed the data to determine categories and strength of association between items. The analyses led to the development of a taxonomy for the organization of information items within the portal. This report describes the card-sorting methodology and provides lessons learned on the application of this technique. Although the card-sorting technique alone will not produce an effective information architecture, it is a valuable technique that can lead to a more usable end product

Scale Size of the Air Traffic Workload input Technique (ATWIT): A Review of Research

Objective: This paper uses a review of previous studies to provide a recommendation for the optimal scale size of the Air Traffic Workload Input Technique (ATWIT). Background: The ATWIT is a measure of workload that was originally a 10-point scale, but subsequent research includes a 7-point variation of this scale. Scale size is known to impact assessment reliability, and more reliable scales produce stronger effect sizes and reduce costs that are associated with experimentation. Therefore, it is important to know whether the 7-point or 10-point version of the scale is more reliable. Method: The authors conducted a preliminary meta-analysis of 15 studies. The analysis examined correlations between ratings using the ATWIT and aircraft count (an objective measure of difficulty) to compare effect sizes across studies with a 7-point scale and a 10-point scale. Results: Findings indicated that the strength of the correlation between ATWIT ratings and aircraft count was greater for the 10-point version of the ATWIT than for the 7-point version. Conclusion: The 10-point scale appears to be more appropriate for the ATWIT than the 7-point scale. The authors recommend that researchers use a 10-point for the ATWIT, unless they have clear justification for deviating from this convention. The authors recommend further research to examine and control for the effects of potential confounds

The Password Survival Guide : A User-Friendly Resource for Technical Operations

With security becoming increasingly important, users may be faced with 50 or more passwords. Human memory can store only limited amounts of information and can be overloaded by too many passwords. This guide is intended to help password users cope with the increasing number and complexity of passwords by providing strategies for reducing the memory load without compromising password complexity. We developed this document based on field research with Technical Operations personnel. The material is presented in a graphical cartoon format along with limited text narrative. The goal is to provide a number of easy-to-use strategies in a format that would motivate Technical Operations personnel to read it. The ideas covered are addressed to Technical Operations, but in many cases transcend Technical Operations and apply to passwords in general