Usability of the Participation and Quality of Life (PAR-QoL) Outcomes Toolkit Website for Spinal Cord Injury.

Background

Quality of life (QoL) is an important parameter to monitor during rehabilitation; however, accurate assessment is challenging. Among individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), assessing QoL is further challenged due to complex sequelae, such as secondary health conditions and factors related to community integration. A Participation and Quality of Life (PAR-QoL) toolkit was created to aid clinicians and researchers in the selection of QoL outcomes tools specific to SCI.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use and usability of the PAR-QoL toolkit.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey from December 2013 to November 2016. Google Analytics were collected from April 2012 to April 2018. Survey sections addressed "use" (behavioral practices and actual use) and "usability" (perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness). Any person who visited the PAR-QoL website was invited to complete the survey. Summary statistics and percent concordances were calculated to describe results from the survey and Google Analytics.

Results

The PAR-QoL website had 188,577 users. The five most visited webpages were outcome tools, with bounce rates ranging from 77% to 90%. Of the 46 survey respondents, 67% were not current users of the PAR-QoL website, and 87% intended to use the resources in the future.

Conclusion

Uptake of the PAR-QoL website is currently limited. Usability of the PAR-QoL website may be improved by modifying navigation, removing the "less useful" components, ensuring regular updates of content and resources, and promoting the website.