The importance of usability testing in the development of an internet-based smoking cessation treatment resource

Nicotine Tob Res. 2006 Dec:8 Suppl 1:S87-93. doi: 10.1080/14622200601048189.

Abstract

It has been cogently argued that Web-based interventions hold substantial promise to deliver effective cessation to a wide audience. However, the potential effectiveness of a site is constrained by fundamental issues such as ease of navigation and structure of information, which impact a visitor's ability to find relevant information. Use of content and Web-design experts to assist in the development of cessation sites is a common approach. This approach, although highly useful, may fail to adequately identify problems that a more typical, target user would experience when visiting the site. Formal usability testing provides a user-centric approach to assessing a site's functionality. In this paper, we provide an example of this approach used in the development of a cessation Web site.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Consumer Behavior / statistics & numerical data*
  • Female
  • Health Education / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Information Dissemination
  • Information Services / statistics & numerical data
  • Information Storage and Retrieval / statistics & numerical data
  • Internet / organization & administration
  • Internet / statistics & numerical data*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Program Evaluation
  • Quality Control
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Smoking Cessation / methods*
  • Smoking Prevention*
  • Tobacco Use Disorder / rehabilitation
  • United States / epidemiology
  • User-Computer Interface*