Developing Self-Management Tools with Vulnerable Populations for use in Personal Health Information Management Systems.

Vulnerable populations have potential to be significant partners and informants in the development of health information technology. We describe our experience in conducting human-centered participatory design methods with community-dwelling elders in the development of a computer-based falls prevention self-management tool for use in a personal health information management system. Community-dwelling elders contributed significantly to understanding appropriate content and functions; task performance; and graphical representations that should be considered in designing our self-management tool. Design participants should include those who have and have not experienced the clinical condition being considered during the process of system development. Knowledge transfer between system developers and community members about health and personal safety issues can be facilitated through human-centered participatory design methods.