title: The Added Value of Log File Analyses of the Use of a Personal Health Record for Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Preliminary Results.
abstract: The electronic personal health record (PHR) is a promising technology for improving the quality of chronic disease management. Until now, evaluations of such systems have provided only little insight into why a particular outcome occurred. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the navigation process (what functionalities are used, and in what sequence) of e-Vita, a PHR for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), to increase the efficiency of the system and improve the long-term adherence. Log data of the first visits in the first 6 weeks after the release of a renewed version of e-Vita were analyzed to identify the usage patterns that emerge when users explore a new application. After receiving the invitation, 28% of all registered users visited e-Vita. In total, 70 unique usage patterns could be identified. When users visited the education service first, 93% of all users ended their session. Most users visited either 1 or 5 or more services during their first session, but the distribution of the routes was diffuse. In conclusion, log file analyses can provide valuable prompts for improving the system design of a PHR. In this way, the match between the system and its users and the long-term adherence has the potential to increase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Health and Technology, Center for eHealth Research and Disease Management, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands f.sieverink@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Floor
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sieverink
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Health and Technology, Center for eHealth Research and Disease Management, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Saskia M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kelders
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Health and Technology, Center for eHealth Research and Disease Management, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Louise M A
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Braakman-Jansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Health and Technology, Center for eHealth Research and Disease Management, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Julia E W C
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: van Gemert-Pijnen
keywords: logfile analyses; personal health record; type 2 diabetes mellitus; usage patterns