ASPIRE: Activity Safety Planning and Infection Risk Estimator for COVID-19

• Main Authors: Aguares, Maveron Tyriel V., Gabor, Anne Nicole U., Lee, Thaniel C., Padillon, Cy Wenvir A., Chu, Shirley B.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2023
• Subjects: COVID-19; e-health website; estimator; transmission risk; web development; Medicine and Health Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/sinaya/vol2/iss1/1; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/sinaya/article/1052/viewcontent/1_Science_and_Technology_Manuscript__3_ASPIRE.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted multiple researchers to investigate this domain since 2020. One aspect being explored in this topic is the available tools in assisting the public in estimating virus risks. Due to the limited availability of the tools, Jimenez and Peng created the Aerosol Transmission Estimator, which is a peer-reviewed risk estimator that garnered positive reception. The tool is encoded in Google sheets. However, people may find it difficult to use due to the terminologies and information presented in that sheet. To solve this, MyCOVIDRisk, a user-friendly website was built for this estimator, but it is only configured for the United States setting. Accordingly, this study created a website called ASPIRE using Jimenez and Peng’s estimator to evaluate the risk and MyCOVIDRisk as reference for the interface design. ASPIRE is configured for the Philippine setting. The usability of ASPIRE was evaluated through surveys and interviews using the System Usability Scale (SUS) and content analysis. The SUS used for measuring usability yielded a grade of A—above average. The overall feedback of the respondents was mostly positive. Issues and suggestions raised by the respondents were addressed. Further research is needed to improve ASPIRE, determine its usability to medical professionals, learn its accessibility and inclusivity to users, and identify its impact on the Philippine community. Overall, this study shows how a COVID-19 risk estimation website was developed and improved based on user evaluation, which can be used as a reference in creating e-health tools.