Abstract
Domestic violence is a prevalent issue affecting women worldwide. This issue has been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. While several measures have been attempted to address domestic violence, the use of technology has been shown to provide support for victims when planning for their safety. In this paper, we designed a persuasive mobile app, called TidyHome, targeted at women ages 15–49 years who are victims or survivors of domestic or intimate partner violence. The app addresses the issue of domestic violence with the aim of promoting safety behavior and safety consciousness in victims and survivors of domestic violence. To achieve this, we followed a user-centered design approach. Specifically, we obtained user preferences by conducting focus group sessions to gather ideas and opinions on features to be implemented in the app. We then designed low-fidelity prototypes (LFP) illustrating various features of TidyHome based on our findings from the focus group. Thereafter, we conducted a user study evaluating the LFP and assessing the perceived persuasiveness of the features illustrated in the LFP. Based on the results obtained from the LFP evaluation, we designed high-fidelity prototypes (HFP) reflecting only the features perceived as significantly persuasive. Finally, we conducted an evaluation of the HFP assessing its usability, and refined the HFP based on qualitative feedback after thematic analysis. Our results indicate that 8 features of the app were considered persuasive and very relevant for supporting female victims of domestic violence (Knowledge-Box, Panic Button, Third Ear, Meditime, Daily Companion, Diary, Encourage, and Self-Discovery). Likewise, the results display that the TidyHome app shows effective usability and user experience.
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Orji, J., Hernandez, A., Selema, B., Orji, R. (2022). TidyHome: A Persuasive App for Supporting Victims and Survivors of Domestic Violence. In: Kurosu, M. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction. User Experience and Behavior. HCII 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13304. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05412-9_28
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