From Usability Barriers to Design Guidelines: Older Adults’ Interaction with Telemedicine Tasks

Older adults often encounter usability barriers in telemedicine, yet these difficulties are not always translated into practical design guidance. This study identified task-level usability barriers and developed and evaluated corresponding design guidelines. In Phase 1, six adults aged 65 years and above completed registration, text consultation, and video consultation tasks using a think-aloud protocol. Five barrier categories were identified and translated into a redesigned prototype. In Phase 2, 30 older adults completed the same tasks using reconstructed original and redesigned interfaces. The redesigned prototype significantly reduced completion time across all three tasks. Task-specific System Usability Scale scores also increased, with significant improvements for registration and video consultation but not text consultation. The findings provide preliminary empirical support for translating observed interaction barriers into age-friendly telemedicine design responses. The study contributes a structured barrier-to-guideline process linking older adults’ task-level difficulties with implementable and empirically evaluated interface design directions.