Usability evaluation of a mHealth application for overweight and obesity

Abstract

The objective of the article is to evaluate the usability of a mobile application (Healthfy) that makes the prevention and control of overweight and obesity in adults. For the evaluation, a questionnaire adapted from the uMARS method was applied, which was validated by Cronbach's Alpha analysis. Healthfy was used by 26 employees for 21 days of exclusive Home Office. The Pareto method was used for the quantitative statistical analysis, and for the free field responses, the Bardin Content Analysis method. The uMARS validation achieved acceptable reliability (??=0.79). The application met the expectation and encouraged changes in health-related behaviors with a 73.03% agreement. The qualitative analysis of 53 testimonies showed a greater recurrence of records related to behavior to change habits (45%). Thus, it is possible to conclude that the application has characteristics that interfere in the behavior and motivation for healthy habits by workers in an exclusive home office, although there seem to be users limitations in planning and execution of activities.