User-centred design of a mobile self-management solution for parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a highly prevalent and disabling condition, requiring frequent medication adjustments. In parallel, non-adherence to medical treatment might lead to severe consequences. Therefore, a solution to monitor PD symptoms, allowing neurologists to make informed decisions about medication adjustments, and one which could promote medical treatment adherence would be beneficial for both the patient and the medical doctor. In this paper we present the rationale and user-centred process for the design of four smartphone applications for the self-management of PD. We present the methods for evaluation and the results of usability tests. The results show that user-centred methods were efficient and that people with PD were able to achieve high task completion rates on usability tests with three of the applications for PD self-management. Future work should focus on detailed improvement of touch screen sensitivity to optimize error prevention.