Principles for Developing Digital Health Interventions for Prostate Cancer: A Community-Based Design Approach with African American Men

To reduce disparities related to prostate cancer among African American men, the American Cancer Society recommends that men make an informed decision with their healthcare provider about whether prostate cancer screening is right for them. The informed decision-making process can be facilitated through technology by teaching men about prostate cancer and providing them with activities to build their self-efficacy. However, these tools may be most effective when they are developed using a set of validated design principles, such as the Usability Engineering Lifecycle, in conjunction with a community-based participatory research (CBPR) process. Using CBPR can be especially useful in designing tools for minority communities, where men have the highest prostate cancer incidence and mortality. This paper describes the author's process for using CBPR principles to develop a prostate cancer education program for African American men and also discusses the value of using these principles within an existing usability framework.