Usability Assessment of Technologies for Remote Monitoring of Knee Osteoarthritis

• Published in: IEEE open journal of engineering in medicine and biology Vol. 5; pp. 476 - 484
• Main Authors: Cafarelli, Andrea, Sorriento, Angela, Marola, Giorgia, Amram, Denise, Rabusseau, Fabien, Locteau, Herve, Cabras, Paolo, Dumont, Erik, Nakhaei, Sam, Jernberger, Ake, Bergsten, Par, Spinnato, Paolo, Russo, Alessandro, Ricotti, Leonardo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.01.2024; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applications programs; Arthritis; Biomedical monitoring; Caregivers; Center of pressure; Data acquisition; Evaluation; Imaging; Knee; Knee osteoarthritis; Mobile computing; Monitoring; Osteoarthritis; Pain; Physical activity; portable technologies; Questionnaires; remote assessment; Remote monitoring; telehealth; Thermography; Usability; usability evaluation; remote assessment; Knee osteoarthritis; usability evaluation; telehealth; portable technologies
• ISSN: 2644-1276; 2644-1276
• DOI: 10.1109/OJEMB.2024.3407961

Goal : To evaluate the usability of different technologies designed for a remote assessment of knee osteoarthritis. Methods: We recruited eleven patients affected by mild or moderate knee osteoarthritis, eleven caregivers, and eleven clinicians to assess the following technologies: a wristband for monitoring physical activity, an examination chair for measuring leg extension, a thermal camera for acquiring skin thermographic data, a force balance for measuring center of pressure, an ultrasound imaging system for remote echographic acquisition, a mobile app, and a clinical portal software. Specific questionnaires scoring usability were filled out by patients, caregivers and clinicians. Results: The questionnaires highlighted a good level of usability and user-friendliness for all the technologies, obtaining an average score of 8.7 provided by the patients, 8.8 by the caregivers, and 8.5 by the clinicians, on a scale ranging from 0 to 10. Such average scores were calculated by putting together the scores obtained for the single technologies under evaluation and averaging them. Conclusions: This study demonstrates a high level of acceptability for the tested portable technologies designed for a potentially remote and frequent assessment of knee osteoarthritis.