User-Centric Hospital Web Sites: A Case for Trust and Personalization

Employing a user-centered design approach, hospital Web sites were investigated to understand what content and interactivity users preferred. The findings show that trust, credibility, usefulness, and personalization are vital factors for people in the adoption of hospital Web site usage. A mixed method of usability testing and in-depth interviewing was used to develop a participatory design framework. With a high fidelity prototype of a hospital Web site, 30 participants matching the institution's patient demographics took part in usability testing and in-depth interviewing. The results have implications for designing future hospital, healthcare, and medical Web sites.