Background South Africa has a high prevalence of motor skills impairment associated with Developmental Coordination Disorder, Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and more. Task shifting and mLearning modules for early childhood development (ECD) teachers present a potential solution for the early identification and intervention.
Aim To evaluate the overall usability of a mobile training app with ECD teachers in low-resource settings.
Methods A concurrent mixed-methods approach was used: i) a standard laboratory usability test with a think-aloud protocol, ii) two weeks of app access, and iii) an evaluated of its impact teacher’s ability to promote motor skills. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the System Usability Scale (SUS), the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), and a likes, dislikes and recommendations feedback form. The COPM was repeated after two weeks.
Results Our mobile health app had above-average usability, with an average SUS percentile rank of 79.8%. Two thirds of participants (n=8/12) found acceptable usability. Paired t-tests showed significant improvements in self-reported performance and satisfaction scores. Participants provided 14 recommendations for improvement.
Conclusion Findings confirm the app’s usability and suggest it may enhance ECD teachers’ ability to promote motor skills. Usability testing identified key areas for improvement to optimize the prototype.
Contribution Usability testing is essential for mHealth and mLearning apps in task shifting. Effective inclusion of African ECD teachers required word-of-mouth recruitment, skilled facilitation, multilingual support, plain language, contextual device considerations, and think-aloud methods.