Page - 54 - in Applied Interdisciplinary Theory in Health Informatics - Knowledge Base for Practitioners

1.3. Limitations of User Centred Design in providing contextual user analysis A usable application is one that not only understands the fundamental needs of the user, but also understands a user’s situation, i.e. context and environment and takes appropriate actions to enable the user's tasks. To enable this, the application needs to collect and infer relevant contexts to understand the user's situation. However, this is limited when applying UCD solely to the development of mHealth interventions. Users will invariably have different perceptions, understanding and expectations of a mHealth system and this will affect how they interact with the system. Furthermore, human activity is directly influenced by social, cultural and historical context [12], which adds further complexity. It is therefore important to consider the way people interact with mHealth interventions and their perception of the purpose of using or engaging with the mobile intervention. The necessity of understanding the users and context of use of health systems has already been emphasised. It is then necessary that the social, cultural and psychological aspects of the user in context is captured [21]. One method of achieving this is by using a theoretical tool such as Activity Theory [AT], which can help provide emphasis on user context and interaction. Applying AT to UCD can help bridge the gap in adapting contextual information to the user’s situation and needs. 1.4. Introducing Activity Theory as a conceptual framework in User Centred Design. AT is a theoretical framework for analysing human practices as developmental processes with both individual and social levels interlinked at the same time [12;22]. AT was originally based upon the work of Vygotski and the study of cultural-historical psychology [12]. The AT framework uses ‘activity’ as the basic unit for studying human practices. Activity or ‘what people do’ is reflected through actions as people interact with their environment. It can be conceptualised and used in a variety of ways. Because of the way in which it can provide a richer analysis of user needs and context, AT has been adopted as an HCI conceptual framework to help guide and inform the different stages of UCD. Our understanding of AT can be described as follows: the basic unit of analysis is an activity which includes a context. An activity includes eight components with a triangular relationship. Figure 3: Engeström's Activity system model (Based on [23]) A.GoodandO.Omisade /LinkingActivityTheorywithUserCentredDesign54