Date of Award

6-2023

Document Type

Union College Only

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

Chris Fernandes

Language

English

Keywords

Fetal movement, data visualization, human-computer interaction, pregnancy

Abstract

Miracles of life do not occur all the time. Every year in the US, 24,000 stillbirths-babies lost after 20+ weeks gestation-devastate families [10]. Healthcare providers recommend parents in the third trimester of pregnancy perform fetal movement counting to monitor their baby's health [12, 16]. As a result, mobile apps rise in popularity to assist mothers in tracking when and how many times their babies kicked. Using the fetal movement counting information collected, apps graph the data for users. However, despite the diversity of apps available, a formal analysis of the usability of those visualizations is missing. This research is especially needed because mothers may rely on that data to make pregnancy-related decisions. Therefore, this study proposes and evaluates three visualizations of fetal movement data: line, bar, and calendar charts. Through usability testing with 19 women, we find that the most effective visualization depends on baby types. A bar or calendar chart that distinguishes the time of the kick count session is helpful if the baby moves differently throughout the day. If the baby moves consistently, a line chart graphing individual kick count sessions on the x-axis is more effective.

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Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.