Table 3.

Illustrative quotes by theme from user testing interviews with 11 parent-child pairs participating in phase 1 of the Mobile Diabetes Educator pilot study (2018-2019).

Theme		Illustrative quotes
Usability
	Somewhat user friendly	“I think certain areas were just a little confusing so you couldn’t really tell whether or not you’re supposed to tap on it or are you just supposed to go to the next screen.”
Comprehension
	High comprehension	“It got to the point. It explained the situations and what to look for in the situations. It explained it a lot. A kid would understand it.”
High engagement
	Layout	“I liked that it alternated with videos and then text.”
	Activities	“I think they are helpful in the sense that they kind of test your knowledge and help you to get a better understanding of it.”
	Chapters	“My favorite part was basically explaining why people have diabetes.”
	Videos	“I liked the animated videos. I think that keeps you going. Looking at the lady sitting there just talking [whereas] looking at the animation, they’re doing things so it makes you want to look at it more.”
Low engagement
	Activities	“Some of them were confusing and some of them were boring. And then some of them were just ‘meh.’”
	Chapters	“Too many chapters.”
	Characters	“I just thought it was weird they had no arms and legs.”
Purpose
	Health education	“To educate kids about diabetes in a fun way. To let them know it’s ok to have diabetes. This stuff happens in normal life, it happens in school. It tells them what to do also, but in a fun way.”
	Health management	“Learning about it and how to maintain it, and keep yourself healthy.”
	Motivation for diabetes self-management	“To tell us that it is not easy to take care of [diabetes] but you have to try your best and eat more healthy food so you won’t get sick.”
Satisfaction
	Moderate satisfaction	“I say 7 [out of 10] because like I said from earlier, just those little kinks that need to be worked out. But outside of that, I think it’s a really good tool to educate and inform others about diabetes, especially for a child that is new to it and kind of clueless and going through it. So, it’s a good way to help them to understand it on their level.”
Suggestions for improvement
	Usability	“A little more instruction at the top of the screen on what’s expected on that particular screen, that slide.”
	Comprehension	“I would only suggest doing the content a little bit more on the kids’ level–especially for younger kids–so they could really grasp the content just a little bit more. [For example], with the video with the nutrition, just doing all the way around on an animated level for kids if they’re going to be the ones engaging on the iPad. But if it’s more like older kids or adults, then yeah keep it the way it is.”
	Layout	“A little more videos and quizzes.”
	Chapters	“I think they should have added more about the carbs. They should have at least given more clarification on how you would...how much insulin and how many carbs...they should have put that together more.”
	Activities	“Drawing. Maybe have the kids draw their idea of the pancreas and all that stuff.”
	Characters	“I think she should sound more like a kid. I think all of them should.”
	Settings	“More settings would be nice. Especially when we’re taking trips out and then to know what you need or how to do things when you’re in a car. Stuff like that.”