title: User Experiences of the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal's Evidence Summaries and Blog Posts: Usability Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Evidence summaries and blogs can support evidence-informed healthy aging, by presenting high-quality health research evidence in plain language for a nonprofessional (citizen) audience.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our objective was to explore citizens' perceptions about the usability of evidence summaries and blog posts on the Web-based McMaster Optimal Aging Portal.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-two citizens (aged 50 years and older) and informal caregivers participated in a qualitative study using a think-aloud method and semistructured interviews. Eleven interviews were conducted in person, 7 over the telephone, and 4 by Skype.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified themes that fell under 4 user-experience categories: (1) desirability: personal relevance, (2) understandability: language comprehension, grasping the message, dealing with uncertainty, (3) usability: volume of information, use of numbers, and (4) usefulness: intention to use, facility for sharing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Participants recognized that high-quality evidence on aging was valuable. Their intended use of the information was influenced by how much it applied to their own health circumstances or those of a loved one. Some specific formatting features that were preferred included consistent layout, content organized by subheadings, catchy titles, numerical information summarized in a table, and inclusion of a glossary.
authors.affiliation: Health Information Research Unit, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0449-0572
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: M Barbara
authors.forename: Maureen
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1968-6765
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dobbins
authors.forename: R Brian
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1453-3196
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Haynes
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3331-8766
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iorio
authors.forename: John N
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7917-3657
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Lavis
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5240-6449
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Levinson
keywords: Web-based health information; aging; consumer health information; knowledge translation; usability testing