Using eye tracking to assess the navigation efficacy of a medical proxy decision tool

<i>Making a life-or-death decision about the best course of action for a</i><br><i>loved one is emotionally taxing and cognitively complex. Decision aids can help</i><br><i>reduce the burden by providing relevant important information that facilitates</i><br><i>decision-making while allowing the decision maker to process the information at</i><br><i>their own pace. Given the intense cognitive effort required to process complex</i><br><i>medical alternatives, it is crucial to provide a decision aid that is easy to</i><br><i>understand and easy to use. We designed a digital decision aid based on a</i><br><i>validated paper-based decision aid targeting proxies making survival or comfort</i><br><i>care decisions for their loved ones suffering traumatic brain injury. In this study,</i><br><i>we focused on the effects of navigation design, which plays an essential role in</i><br><i>helping users consume the provided content. We used eye tracking to study</i><br><i>users</i><i>’ </i><i>information processing and navigation behavior throughout the entire</i><br><i>decision-making process. Our results showed that one of our navigation designs</i><br><i>reduced the feeling of </i><i>“</i><i>lostness</i><i>” </i><i>and improved the overall perception of the</i><br><i>usability of the tool. The same navigation design improved the information</i><br><i>processing behavior by increasing engagement with the system and helped</i><br><i>decision makers spend more time processing content rather than searching for</i><br><i>the provided information.</i>