Usability of a Mobile Application for Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

This paper investigates usability aspects of a mobile application aimed at monitoring symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. Thirty PD patients collected data through mobile-based questionnaires and activity tasks aimed at measuring motor and non-motor symptoms for a duration of two months. We report the results about usability conducted within this study. A combination of methods consisting of the uMARS questionnaire and interviews with PD patients inform the usability aspects of the mobile application. Results indicate that the app is overall received well and is usable (median uMARS score=4). Interviews reveal usability issues related to the size of textual instructions and buttons, and to the context of use of the app, particularly when the phone is used as a sensor. These findings highlight the need of co-design and preliminary testing when developing apps for PD.