title: The Effect of Screen Size on Mobile Phone User Comprehension of Health Information and Application Structure: An Experimental Approach.
abstract: This research analyzes the impact of mobile phone screen size on user comprehension of health information and application structure. Applying experimental approach, we asked randomly selected users to read content and conduct tasks on a commonly used diabetes mobile application using three different mobile phone screen sizes. We timed and tracked a number of parameters, including correctness, effectiveness of completing tasks, content ease of reading, clarity of information organization, and comprehension. The impact of screen size on user comprehension/retention, clarity of information organization, and reading time were mixed. It is assumed on first glance that mobile screen size would affect all qualities of information reading and comprehension, including clarity of displayed information organization, reading time and user comprehension/retention of displayed information, but actually the screen size, in this experimental research, did not have significant impact on user comprehension/retention of the content or on understanding the application structure. However, it did have significant impact on clarity of information organization and reading time. Participants with larger screen size took shorter time reading the content with a significant difference in the ease of reading. While there was no significant difference in the comprehension of information or the application structures, there were a higher task completion rate and a lower number of errors with the bigger screen size. Screen size does not directly affect user comprehension of health information. However, it does affect clarity of information organization, reading time and user's ability to recall information.
authors.affiliation: College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), National Guard Health Affairs (NGHA), P.O. Box: 2350, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ebtisam
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Al Ghamdi
authors.affiliation: College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), National Guard Health Affairs (NGHA), P.O. Box: 2350, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Faisal
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yunus
authors.affiliation: College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), National Guard Health Affairs (NGHA), P.O. Box: 2350, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Da'ar
authors.affiliation: College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), National Guard Health Affairs (NGHA), P.O. Box: 2350, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ashraf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El-Metwally
authors.affiliation: King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khalifa
authors.affiliation: College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), National Guard Health Affairs (NGHA), P.O. Box: 2350, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Bakheet
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aldossari
authors.affiliation: College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), National Guard Health Affairs (NGHA), P.O. Box: 2350, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. mowafah@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mowafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Househ
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D032882:Comprehension; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000379:methods*; D003626:Data Display; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D063731:Mobile Applications; D011932:Reading; D000068997:Smartphone / Q000295:instrumentation*
keywords: Comprehension; Mobile phones; Retention; Screen size; Usability