Minervation

Evidence based healthcare consultancy

Tag Archives: usability testing

If you produce health information for the general public, you should join PiF

PiF logoBack in 2005 we published our LIDA research saying that 98% of online health information was inaccessible, unusable and unreliable. Things have improved over the last 7 years, but information providers still need all the help they can get to make sure the information they produce is easy to use and understand and a reflection of best current knowledge.

We have been involved in the Patient Information Forum for nearly a decade; as members, supporters, conference speakers and website developers.  We are keen advocates of their hugely influential work and were delighted to be chosen to help redevelop the PiF website earlier this year.

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Welcome to the Lida Blog

The Lida tool helps you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of health information on the web.

This section of the Minervation blog is dedicated to the Lida instrument, Minervation’s validation tool for health websites.

What is Lida?

Lida is an appraisal instrument that allows you to measure the quality of a health web site.

It is free, and is available as an online tool that generates a “scorecard” for a website, and as an annotated PDF document containing detailed instructions and explanations of each item,

What does Lida measure?

Here’s what we mean when we talk about the quality of a health website:

  1. Accessibility
    Is the information accessible to those who need it?
  2. Usability
    Can users make sense of it once they’ve got it?
  3. Reliability
    Is the information the website contains likely to be accurate?

Each of these domains is evaluated using a set of criteria, set out in the  accompanying PDF.

A note on Accessibility

We measure accessibility using an automated check. Our online tool looks at the HTML and metadata on a web page and scans for common errors that may affect accessibility.

This approach can only provide guidance as to the likely accessibility of a website and should not be considered definitive. A full accessibility audit, to the standards set out by the Web Accessibility Initiative, can only be correctly performed using human judgment and user involvement.

How can Lida be used?

You can use Lida as:

  1. qualitative guide to the strengths and weaknesses of a source
  2. a quantitative measure of quality to rank or compare many different sources
  3. a tool to assess individual pages or to assess a website as a whole.

What does “Lida” mean?

When we originally developed the tool, we thought about calling it “Minervalidation”. Fortunately we came to our senses in time. We couldn’t think of anything else so used the string “Lida”, because it conjoins Minervation and validation to make “Minervalidation”.

Where can I find out more?

Check back in the coming weeks to find out more about how people are using Lida to guide the development of good quality health information, and how we validated the instrument.

We want to hear from you about:

  • What makes good quality health information?
  • Does the Lida instrument address these issues properly?
  • What were your experiences of using Lida?

 

 

New responsive design for the Oxford Careers website

Student meeting Careers AdvisorWe have been working with the team at the University of Oxford Careers Service for a few years now; helping them ensure that their website meets the needs of the students, alumni and recruiters who use it.

Last year, the team noticed that more and more people were becoming interested in accessing the site on smartphones and tablet computers. They also felt that the site wasn’t really making the most of blogging or social media tools, and that the design and structure of the site could be improved.

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New website to help doctors provide better care for people with learning disabilities

Wood for the treesWe know that sometimes people with learning disabilities don’t receive adequate care from the NHS. Many high profile reports and documentaries have highlighted the failings across health and social care and it’s noticeable that the mistakes that happen are often around regularly occurring themes (e.g. poor communication, ignoring advice from families).

We have been heavily involved in a new website from the General Medical Council that aims to teach doctors how to do better. The site identifies the issues, highlights patient perspectives and shows how professionals can put guidance into practice. It’s a very interactive resource with lots of video and online learning tools.

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Usability testing for the NHS Commissioning Zone

We have just presented the results of a new usability study to the team at Primary Care Commissioning (PCC) who are responsible for the Commissioning Zone website. The Commissioning Zone is a website aimed at clinical commissioners.  It features links to a collection of information (reports, guidance, toolkits etc) to support clinical commissioning and is part of the suite of resources via NHS Networks.

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Are you vitamin D deficient?

How are you getting your vitamin D?

The Vitamin D Council is a charity based in California who are working to raise awareness of vitamin D and the potential consequences of vitamin D deficiency. We get vitamin D through sunlight exposure or supplementation and there is emerging research that shows links between a number of health problems and vitamin D deficiency.

The new Vitamin D Council website features lots of information about vitamin D, what it is, how to make sure you get enough and how to find out if you are deficient.  It also contains 75 health condition summaries, which bring together the latest research on the subject in a patient friendly format.

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