Table 1.

HCD principles linked to psychological theory

Design goals for psychosocial innovations (Lyon & Koerner, 2016) based on HCD usability principles (e.g., Nielsen, 1994)	Definitions	Roots in psychological theory
Learnability	Users can rapidly build understanding of, or facility in, intervention use.	Cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1988); working memory (Baddeley, 1992)
Memorability	Users can easily remember and apply intervention components (without many added supports).	Cognitive complexity theory (Kieras & Polson, 1985); cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1988)
Efficiency	Minimal time, effort, and cost are required for intervention use and problem resolution.	Activity theory (Kuutti, 1995); task representation theory (Card, Moran, & Newell, 1980; Card et al., 1983)
Low cognitive load	Minimal thinking is required to complete intervention tasks (e.g., tasks are simple / involve few steps).	Cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1988)
Error reduction	Users can prevent or rapidly recover from misapplications of intervention components.	Error detection and compensation (Gehring, Goss, Coles, Meyer, & Donchin, 1993)
Satisfaction	Intervention is viewed as acceptable and valuable, especially compared to alternate products in the health marketplace.	Theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975)
Capitalizing on context	Intervention incorporates/addresses the static properties of the destination context that limit intervention use.	Ecological psychology (Barker, 1968); sociocultural theory of cognitive development (Vygotsky, 1978)