Context-based and rule-based adaptation of mobile user interfaces in mHealth

Abstract

Mobile technology is an integral part of the modern health care environment. In mHealth, the mobile user interface (MUI) serves as the bridge between the application and the health care professional. It is important that the doctor be able to easily express his needs on the MUI and correctly interpret the information displayed. New techniques for adapting MUIs offer new opportunities for the MUI designer to maximize the benefits of mHealth technology by providing the best possible way for health care professionals to perform their tasks efficiently and effectively. For the designer, the hope is that new technologies will be developed, such as mobile devices adaptable to different environments, so as to enable customization of the application to the user's context. In this paper, we propose context-based and rule-based approach for designing adaptable MUIs in mHealth. The MUI features adapted to the needs of health care professionals have been implemented on the iPhone and evaluated with an empirical study. © 2013 The Authors.