No more FAQs: enhancing mobile health registration with interactive body diagrams – the impact of interaction modality, label leaders, and anchor types on user experience
Chien‐Hsiung Chen, Hsiao-Ching Chu · Behaviour and Information Technology · 2025
In the post-pandemic era, mobile health (mHealth) applications have become essential for contactless patient care, yet user engagement has declined, emphasizing the need for improved interaction design. This study examines how three design factors-interaction modality (IM: 2D vs. 3D), label leaders (with vs. without), and anchor types (dot vs. area)-affect task performance and user perceptions in a mobile symptom-assistance registration feature using body diagrams. A 2×2×2 between subjects experiment with 80 participants was conducted. Results showed that label leaders and anchor types significantly influenced task performance, with optimal outcomes achieved when dot anchors were paired with label leaders under minimal learning and low screen complexity. IM did not affect task performance but strongly impacted subjective experience, particularly usability, reality, and fun; participants favored 3D IM for its enhanced realism and enjoyment. Labels with leaders improved perceptions of usability, unambiguity, and aesthetics, whereas without leaders, larger area anchors provided better perceived clarity. In 3D environments, misaligned labels without leaders resulted in lower aesthetics ratings, while leader-aligned labels received the highest ratings. These findings highlight the importance of label leaders, anchor types, and IM in mHealth applications and offer design guidance for enhancing usability, clarity, and user experience.