Usability Testing of a Gratitude Application for Promoting Mental Well-Being

Despite the increasing number of mental health applications (apps), the perceived usability of these apps from the viewpoint of end users has rarely been studied. App usability can impact users' acceptance and engagement with a self-guided mobile health intervention. This study aims to evaluate the usability of a gratitude application called Be Grateful from the perspective of end-users to identify existing design, functionality, and usability issues and elicit users' views and experienceswith the app. We designed the app and conducted usability testing, a combination of interview and questionnaire study of 14 participants who have experienced mental health issues based on self-diagnosis. Participants used Be Grateful app for ten days, completed the System Usability Scale (SUS) validated measure of system usability, and were interviewed at the end of the study. We found that the end-user appreciated the simplicity, straightforwardness of the app and provided positive feedback about the layout. Participants also gave the system high scores on the SUS usability measure (mean = 83.93). Results indicated that the Be Grateful app is usable and will be more likely to be adopted and used by users. Participants were generally excited about the app and eager to use it. This paper reports the lessons learned from the design and evaluation of the app's usability. We discuss design implications for future work in the area of designing interactive mobile apps for health and wellness, with a focus on mental health interventions.