Usability Study of ImageScape Integration in the Prolonged Exposure Collective Sensing System (PECSS)

Abstract

We studied the usability and usefulness of the Prolonged Exposure Collective Sensing System (PECSS) for clinicians conducting prolonged exposure (PE) therapy with a special focus on one functional component of PECSS called ImageScape, which allowed patients to share photos of their in-vivo tasks with their clinicians. The usability study returned positive results for the PECSS system as a whole, but yielded mixed results for ImageScape in particular, suggesting that further research into the utility of ImageScape is needed. We begin by introducing relevant psychological backgrounds such as PTSD and prolonged exposure therapy. Then, we include an in-depth description of the PECSS ImageScape software design and implementation. This is followed by the design of a usability evaluation protocol for the clinician, which attempts to measure the importance of ImageScape both subjectively and objectively, quantitatively and qualitatively. Next, we provide the results of the usability study with one of the clinicians from our partner university. We will discuss the implications of our study, compare how our system with other existing systems for PTSD treatment, address the limits of our study, and discuss the next steps and future studies in the design and implementation of PECSS. Finally, We conclude our study with a summarization of our contributions.