Name
#42 Preliminary Results Measuring the User Experience of Self-reported Lifetime Blast Exposure Measures
Speakers
Content Presented on Behalf of
DHA
Services/Agencies represented
Defense Health Agency (DHA), Other/Not Listed
Session Type
Posters
Room#/Location
Prince Georges Exhibit Hall A/B
Focus Areas/Topics
Clinical Care, Medical Technology
Learning Outcomes
1. Understand the Military Health System gap in validated self-reported blast exposure measures.
2. Identify the purpose of administering the UEQ.
3. Describe the preliminary findings of the user experience of participants completing various blast exposure measures.
2. Identify the purpose of administering the UEQ.
3. Describe the preliminary findings of the user experience of participants completing various blast exposure measures.
Session Currently Live
Description
Blast overpressure gauges are promising tools for quantifying blast exposure in real time and correlating blast exposure to health outcomes; however, the technology’s applications remain limited and these devices cannot address cumulative lifetime exposures. Inventories to quantify and record complex lifetime histories of blast exposure, in both training and operational environments, in service members (SMs) and veterans can be utilized in the absence of reliable blast gauge data over military careers. Several blast exposure measures have been created to answer the demand, including the Blast Exposure Threshold Survey (BETS), Blast Frequency and Symptom Severity (B-FASS) and National Intrepid Center of Excellence’s (NICoE) Blast Ordnance and Occupational exposure Measure (BOOM). The BETS is a self-report assessment that collects information on weapon time, number of events, years of exposure and repetitive daily frequency. The B-FASS is a semi-structured survey that collects career blast-related symptomology including frequency and duration. The NICoE BOOM was created leveraging the knowledge of subject matter experts, NICoE clinical providers, and NICoE active-duty patients. It is a comprehensive, self-report blast inventory comprised of a matrix broken down by weapon systems where individuals are asked to provide estimated blast exposures distinguishing both operational and training-based exposures as well incoming versus outgoing exposures for each weapon system.
Currently, there is an active WRNMMC IRB approved protocol, titled “Evaluation of Self-reported Lifetime Blast Exposure Measures”, with the objective to assess the psychometric properties of the BETS, B-FASS, and BOOM to prepare for future use in clinical care and research investigations as well as examine associations with long-term health outcomes. Beyond the clinical and research implications of the various self-report blast exposure measures, user experience serves as an important property to consider from a patient-use perspective. In this protocol, participants are asked to complete the User Experience Questionnaires (UEQ) for each of the self-report blast exposure measures. User experience is defined as the overall impression of a user when he or she interacts with a product. The UEQ is comprised of 26 items exploring factors of perspicuity, efficiency, dependability, stimulation, and novelty with rating scales ranging from one to seven. The intent of this abstract is to discuss the preliminary results pertaining to the user experience for the various self-reported lifetime blast exposure measures.
The UEQs for the three blast exposure measures (BETS, B-FASS, and BOOM) for the first fifteen participants were analyzed. Participants represented four branches of the military (Navy, Marine Corps, Army, and Air Force) with 53% active-duty and 47% veterans. On average, participants served 16.3 years with 27.9 months deployed over 5.9 deployments. Responses on individual UEQ items were rescaled from 1 to 7 to -3 to 3. Averages for each factor (perspicuity, efficiency, dependability, stimulation, and novelty) were calculated. One-way ANOVAs were performed to assess measure specific differences in user experience for each of the factors.
Results noted no significant differences between the three blast exposure measures in the ratings of attractiveness, perspicuity, efficiency, dependability, stimulation, and novelty (all p < 0.05). This reveals that participants have no significant preference, in terms of pragmatic or hedonic qualities, for any of the measures. Based on these findings, additional factors should be considered when selecting a blast exposure measure including specific clinic needs, patient time to complete, and ease of provider interpretation.