title: Feasibility of an iPad application for studying menopause-related symptom clusters and women's heuristics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate feasibility, including usability and utility, of the Computerized Symptom Capture Tool for Menopause (C-SCAT-M), a symptom heuristics application (app) for the iPad, with midlife women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty midlife women aged 40-60 and experiencing symptoms they associated with menopause were recruited through flyers posted on a university campus, primary care and women's health clinics. The C-SCAT-M guided participants to identify symptoms they experienced, draw temporal and causal relationships between symptoms and identify symptom clusters. Women were encouraged to think aloud as they encountered questions or problems and their comments were audio recorded. After completing the C-SCAT-M, they completed a 22-item acceptability survey and a demographic survey. Data were downloaded from catalyst website and analyzed using SPSS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women completed the C-SCAT-M with minimal difficulty, with most indicating that using the app was very/extremely easy and most (57%) preferred using the iPad app to paper. Most women stated that the final diagrams were very/extremely accurate depictions of their symptom clusters and relationships (77%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The C-SCAT-M demonstrated initial feasibility, including usability and utility, for collecting data about symptom clusters experienced by midlife women.
authors.affiliation: a Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, School of Nursing, University of Washington , Seattle , WA , USA .|b Ministry of Health , Jakarta , Republic of Indonesia .
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.affiliation: c Primary Children's Hospital, University of Utah College of Nursing , Salt Lake City , UT , USA .
authors.forename: Lauri A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Linder
authors.affiliation: d Seattle Children's Hospital , Seattle , WA , USA.|e Family and Child Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Washington , Seattle , WA , USA.
authors.forename: Catherine Fiona
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: MacPherson
authors.affiliation: a Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, School of Nursing, University of Washington , Seattle , WA , USA .
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fugate Woods
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D000066506:Heuristics; D006801:Humans; D008593:Menopause / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D063731:Mobile Applications; D012107:Research Design; D013997:Time Factors; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D016387:Women's Health
keywords: Mobile health application, symptoms, women’s health