Design and evaluation of an educational and self-care application for infertile men: perspective of physician and patients

TL;DR

This paper presents a mobile app designed to help infertile men in Iran with education and self-care, evaluated for usability and content needs.

Contribution

A novel mobile application for male infertility self-care, validated through physician and patient input and usability testing.

Findings

The app's 'Disease-Related Data, Sexual History' section was deemed essential by both physicians and patients.

Usability evaluation scored 7.97/9, indicating good user satisfaction.

Disagreements between physicians and patients were noted in sections like food allergies and exercise habits.

Abstract

Male infertility has played an important role in childbearing in developing countries, including Iran. With the increasing use of mobile health and the need for self-care, this study aimed to design and evaluate a mobile-based application for infertile men.

In this quantitative research, a needs assessment for the content of the application was conducted using a questionnaire and the participation of 20 physicians and 60 patients. After the initial implementation of the application, a usability evaluation was conducted for 200 participants using a Questionnaire of User Interface Satisfaction (QUIS) questionnaire.

In this study, the needs assessment included 8 sections: Patient information, disease-related data, Nutrition, treatments and medications, physical activities, personal habits and behaviors, sexual history, software features. In the educational content section, all sub-items of section “Disease-Related Data, Sexual History” were considered “essential” by both participant groups. In this study, the views of physicians and patients differed in " Allergy to a certain food, tea consumption, Traditional medicine amount of exercise during the day, suggested time for physical activities, sleep, Consumption of alcoholic”. The results of the usability evaluation with the QUIS questionnaire, an average of 7.97 (out of 9), indicating a “good” level.

The designed mobile application was aimed at utilizing mobile health in male infertility. With the increasing use of mobile health, it is expected that this application will enhance education, self-care, and improve the quality of life for patients. However, further investigation of its effectiveness and impact in research community and a larger sample size is needed for result generalization.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-025-12900-9.

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