The Public User's Role in Breast Self-Examination Teleconsultation System Development: Modified User-Created Content Approach

Problem statement: Teleconsultation services had been introduced in Malaysia for almost 10 years yet it has not been optimally adopted even though it was found that teleconsultation in Malaysia is cost saving, efficient in allocating resources, enhances diagnostic options and better health outcomes. At present, the underutilized service is due to its failure to satisfy the user’s demands on various aspects. Since Teleconsultation in BSE is at proposal stage, there is strong need for user’s involvement in suggesting its contents to harvest end-user acceptance. This study describes the development process of the Web-based Breast Self-Examination (BSE) Teleconsultation System, emphasizing the role of public users in identifying the contents of the system and its functionality using our proposed Modified UCC (MUCC) approach. To help understanding the process we first presents the key concepts related to original User-Created Content (UCC) approach; next we describes in details the data gathering process which applied qualitative method; we then describes the web-based application for BSE Teleconsultation, as well as, the development process illustrating the transition from the MUCC to the system development; and finally we discusses the importance of the user’s input in the system development from our experience. Approach: A semi-structured one-to-one interviews with 15 public users was carried out in October 2008 in one of the public university in Malaysia to capture the content of the system based on our proposed MUCC approach. Results: By using our MUCC approach, the content of the proposed system has been identified and the BSE Teleconsultation system has been successfully developed. Conclusion/Recommendations: MUCC approach proposed and used in this study has provides insights on user’s role in e-health system development.