JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Developing a digital educative application addressing sexual health education, requires a frame-work enriched with cultural considerations. Based on a previous study, the author identified the problem and needed requirements to incorporate cultural insights from various sources to devel-op a low-fidelity prototype solution.

Objective:

Focusing on a reusable framework of the self-established Intercultural Research Model, to de-velop and implement a widely accessible sexual digital educative tool. The study focus on the development of a low-fidelity prototype (She!Masomo) to a high-fidelity prototype (We!Masomo).

Methods:

The research methodology is anchored in the Solution Room of the self-expanded Intercultural Research Model, which incorporates cultural considerations. It employs a user-centered Design Thinking approach and a multimethod approach. This entails gathering descriptive textual user feedback on the initial low-fidelity prototype (She!Masomo) to inform the development of the high-fidelity prototype (We!Masomo). A comparison analysis between the two prototypes is conducted, supported by qualitative System Usability Scale Analysis (SUS) and semi-structured expert interviews, following COREQ guidelines. The initial sample size for the textual user feedback study and SUS-Analysis of the low-fidelity prototype is N=77, chosen due to data saturation in rural regions. Subsequently, data collection for the SUS-Analysis of the high-fidelity prototype yields N=90, also due to data saturation.

Results:

The digital educational platform, We!Masomo, is designed to facilitate universal access to in-formation, thereby contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4, and 5. Successfully implemented in Kenya, We!Masomo underwent iterative development, begin-ning with a low-fidelity prototype, revealing potential limitations. Utilizing textual user feedback and prototype comparisons, We!Masomo iteratively improved, culminating in an enhanced high-fidelity prototype. The improved effectiveness of the enhanced prototype was assessed using qualitative SUS-Analysis, yielding a favorable score of 77.3, compared to the former SUS-score of 67 of the low-fidelity prototype. This underscores the significance of accessible digital educational tools in promoting equal access to education.

Conclusions:

The research presents a detailed examination of utilizing a case study methodology to advance the development of a digital educational web tool, particularly concerning sensitive educational subjects. It offers critical insights for effectively introducing such tools in regions with limited resources. Nonetheless, it is imperative to highlight findings indicating the significance of incor-porating culture-specific components into the design phase. This underscores the importance of conducting thorough requirement engineering analysis and creating a low-fidelity prototype, followed by SUS-analysis. Such measures are especially crucial when disseminating sensitive information, such as sexual health, through digital platforms. Clinical Trial: This research study reports the results of a health care intervention on human participants, con-ducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved and registered in an appro-priate registry by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Witten/Herdecke University with proto-col code: S-119/2022 and date of approval: 06.08.2022.