Abstract
This study presents the user-centered development and heuristic evaluation of a mobile application designed to support emotional care for children aged three to six during medical visits. Drawing on a spiral development model, the research integrated expert interviews, caregiver surveys, and user interviews to define user needs, identify use scenarios, and establish a comprehensive interaction structure. Four primary functions were proposed: (1) symptom tracking, (2) health education, (3) disease information, and (4) therapeutic games. Based on the defined structure, a static prototype was created and evaluated through a heuristic evaluation by five interdisciplinary experts using Nielsen’s usability principles. The heuristic evaluation highlighted key areas for improvement, including more apparent user role distinction, streamlined navigation, use of age-appropriate language, and enhanced visual feedback. Four major revisions were implemented to refine the interaction structure, addressing usability and emotional engagement. These included multi-user symptom tracking, calendar-based health logs, simplified onboarding, and immersive educational content. This study demonstrates the value of early-stage expert evaluation in pediatric app design. It proposes three key design principles: user-role separation in dual-user contexts, emotionally responsive visual design, and integration of practical and emotional support features. The findings offer insights for developing digital tools in pediatric healthcare.
Keywords
Pediatric emotional care; User-centered design; Interaction structure; Heuristic evaluation
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.157
Citation
Yu, C.(2025) Heuristic Evaluation of Interaction Structure for a Pediatric Emotional Care Mobile App, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.157
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 9 - Healthcare Design
Heuristic Evaluation of Interaction Structure for a Pediatric Emotional Care Mobile App
This study presents the user-centered development and heuristic evaluation of a mobile application designed to support emotional care for children aged three to six during medical visits. Drawing on a spiral development model, the research integrated expert interviews, caregiver surveys, and user interviews to define user needs, identify use scenarios, and establish a comprehensive interaction structure. Four primary functions were proposed: (1) symptom tracking, (2) health education, (3) disease information, and (4) therapeutic games. Based on the defined structure, a static prototype was created and evaluated through a heuristic evaluation by five interdisciplinary experts using Nielsen’s usability principles. The heuristic evaluation highlighted key areas for improvement, including more apparent user role distinction, streamlined navigation, use of age-appropriate language, and enhanced visual feedback. Four major revisions were implemented to refine the interaction structure, addressing usability and emotional engagement. These included multi-user symptom tracking, calendar-based health logs, simplified onboarding, and immersive educational content. This study demonstrates the value of early-stage expert evaluation in pediatric app design. It proposes three key design principles: user-role separation in dual-user contexts, emotionally responsive visual design, and integration of practical and emotional support features. The findings offer insights for developing digital tools in pediatric healthcare.