Making web-based multimedia health tutorials senior-friendly

Abstract

To better understand older adults' perceptions and use of Web-based multimedia features particularly in health-related content areas, we conducted a comparative usability testing of three Web-based multimedia health tutorials -- MedlinePlus Surgery Videos and MedlinePlus Interactive Tutorials both maintained by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Surgery Simulation (pseudo name) by a U.S.-based non-profit organization -- with 10 older adults in February-March of 2010. Data were collected from interviews, surveys, and observation carried out in three consecutive sessions. In this paper we report a subset of the key findings from our qualitative data, focusing on literacy-related challenges participants encountered when using the three sites. These challenges reflect gaps between the computer, medical, and numerical literacy levels that designers expected users to have and the literacy levels that these users actually have. Based on these findings and the multimedia learning literature, we recommend design and training guidelines that may facilitate older adults' learning and use of Web-based multimedia health tutorials.

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