A User – Centered Web Application to Address the Problem of Nutrition Intakes Among Older Adults

Abstract

The increasing population of older adults has raised concerns about their health as they are prone to diseases that are influenced by their dietary, especially malnutrition. The prevalence study of malnutrition among older adults by Nas, 2017 has shown that many participants have malnutrition during the study. Hence, this study aims to address the malnutrition problems among older adults. We want to investigate how information technology can help older adults practice healthy eating by analysing the suitable design for older adults. Besides that, we also want to examine the technology's effectiveness in changing their diet and spreading awareness of the importance of balanced nutrition. Therefore, in this study, we developed a web-based application called HealthyElderEat (HEE) to allow older adults to self-monitor their nutrition intake that focused explicitly on the liquid intakes and the fruit and vegetable intakes. In addition to ensuring older adults consume enough nutrition for their body. In developing practical usability and interface design for older adults, the HEE prototype is designed and evaluated by a usability expert. We have considered the expert evaluation results; the improvement of the HEE app is brought straight into the development process. After completing the HEE app development, a user pilot is conducted through beta testing with the real user for three days. Upon completing the testing, users have filled the ten questions of the System Usability Scale (SUS) to evaluate the HEE app usability and more additional questions to assess the HEE app design and usability. The results show that the HEE app usability, design, and functionality are averagely good. The user finds the HEE app useful, beneficial, and attractive. They also stated that the app's traffic light element boosts their motivation to improve their nutritional intakes. However, there still some flaws in the app design and the information presentation in the app. The app lacks certain functionality that could provide more freedom and choices to the user to customize their intake form. Despite that, we conclude the HEE app can help older adults self-monitor their nutrition intake and increase their motivation to complete their recommended or target intake. However, we also hoped for more participants to be involved during the user testing phase for more data to analyse.