Design guide and usability questionnaire to develop and assess VIRTRAEL, a web-based cognitive training tool for the elderly

Abstract

In most developed countries, the population is gradually ageing. Due to this, there is an increasing demand for technologies whose design is specifically oriented towards meeting the needs of the elderly. In this paper, we describe a web-based cognitive training tool for elderly people, called VIRTRAEL, which comprises 18 exercises presented in 13 working sessions. In order to reach a high degree of user acceptance, we have applied a user-centred development methodology and a guide defining a set of design principles and usability guidelines specifically intended for older people. Moreover, a usability questionnaire to assess VIRTRAEL has been especially designed to be completed by this type of users. Both guide and questionnaire can be easily applied in other software developments, and especially in those related to the specific domain of cognitive training for this user group. As a means to objectively measure the usability of VIRTRAEL, an EFA (Exploratory Factor Analysis) has been conducted on a 32-item questionnaire with 149 subjects. The results confirm that our proposal is usable and highlight some differences between user groups (female versus male users, and those who live alone versus those living with other people) that should be taken into consideration in future developments.