title: Designing an over-the-counter consumer decision-making tool for older adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Older adults are at increased risk of adverse drug events due to medication. Older adults tend to take more medication and are at higher risk of chronic illness. Over-the-counter (OTC) medication does not require healthcare provider oversight and understanding OTC information is heavily dependent on a consumer's ability to understand and use the medication appropriately. Coupling health technology with effective communication is one approach to address the challenge of communicating health and improving health related tasks. However, the success of many health technologies also depends on how well the technology is designed and how well it addresses users needs. This is especially true for the older adult population. This paper describes (1) a formative study performed to understand how to design novel health technology to assist older adults with OTC medication information, and (2) how a user-centered design process helped to refine the initial assumptions of user needs and help to conceptualize the technology.
  
  
  METHODS
  An iterative design process was used. The process included two brainstorming and review sessions with human-computer interaction researchers and design sessions with older adults in the form of semi-structured interviews. Methods and principles of user-centered research and design were used to inform the research design. Two researchers with expertise in human-computer interaction performed expert reviews of early system prototypes. After initial prototypes were developed, seven older adults were engaged in semi-structured interviews to understand usability concerns and features and functionality older adults may find useful for selecting appropriate OTC medication.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eight usability concerns were discovered and addressed in the two rounds of expert review, and nine additional usability concerns were discovered in design sessions with older adults. Five themes emerged from the interview transcripts as recommendations for design. These recommendations represent opportunities for technology such as the one described in this paper to support older adults in the OTC decision-making process.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This paper illustrates the use of an iterative user-centered process in the formative stages of design and its usefulness for understanding aspects of the technology design that are useful to older adults when making decisions about OTC medication. The technology support mechanisms included in the initial model were revised based on the results from the iterative design sessions and helped to refine and conceptualize the system being designed.
authors.affiliation: Clemson University, School of Computing, 100 McAdams Hall, Clemson, SC 29634, USA. Electronic address: aqueasha@umbc.edu.
authors.forename: Aqueasha M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Martin-Hammond
authors.affiliation: Clemson University, School of Computing, 100 McAdams Hall, Clemson, SC 29634, USA.
authors.forename: Tamirat
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abegaz
authors.affiliation: University of Florida, Computer and Information Science & Engineering Department, P.O. Box 116120, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
authors.forename: Juan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Gilbert
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003657:Decision Making; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D006801:Humans; D062069:Inventions; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs; D010358:Patient Participation; D014584:User-Computer Interface
chemical_list: D004366:Nonprescription Drugs
keywords: Consumer health; Consumer-decision making; Medication management; Older adults; User-centered design