The methodology followed in this study involved undertaking the followings steps:
- Conducted a literature review to inform the development of the pathology prototype and to identify valid design guidelines that could be used in the development process. The literature review involved:
- Communication of pathology data. In particular, how the current status of a condition is communicated, and how that information is used to develop a health management plan.
- Examination of consumer theories which shed light on how diverse groups respond to different information formats, and how different consumer attributes impact on the way consumers process information.
- Design of consumer-friendly health information
- Data presentation issues related to treatment (e.g. communication errors)
- Review of CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse)-relevant issues when communicating pathology information to a population containing diverse cultures and languages.
- Developed four prototype reports, which were customised to address the needs of individual consumers including CALD consumers.
- Consulted with requester and consumer stakeholders to determine key information which should be included in the enhanced reporting processes. With Dianella Community Health Inc., examined the requirements and differences for effective reporting and communication between treating clinicians and pathology consumers.
- Integrated findings from the literature review, key information requirements, and functional analysis data, to form a collated resource base to support project activities.
- Created a set of draft reporting formats designed to maximise comprehension by the target groups
- Conducted eye tracking tests to assess different ways of presenting information to users and determine which of these ways encouraged the most retention and understanding of the information the day after the test.
- Conducted Focus groups with diabetic patients and carers, covering topics such as:
their preferences of verbal or written information
their preference of presentation formats of the information
feedback on the prototypes to determine specific types of information that patients and carers would like to see included in the prototype.
- Conducted a Focus group with GPs and nurses, covering:
their reflections on the patients’ perceptions of the prototypes
specific types of information that they would like to see included in the prototype as well.
- Conducted a small-scale trial in several doctors’ practices (in cooperation with Dianella Community Health (DCH)) using a manual prototype produced on an excel spreadsheet. This was conducted to initially evaluate the prototype using real HBA1C (for Type 2 Diabetic) patients’ results as an alternative way of providing pathology information to patients. Doctors, nurses/diabetes educators and patients were also asked to provide feedback on the usefulness of the prototype via questionaries. Follow-up interviews were also conducted with the patients.
- Suggested guidelines that could be used by the general public, industry, and other researchers