Effectiveness of User Guide for Occupational Asthma Web Application (OAKKU) Developed through Participatory Action Research

Background: Work-related asthma (WRA) is often undiagnosed and underreported. The occupational asthma web application (OAKKU) has been created to assist in identifying asthmagens to find and manage WRA. However, it has language limitations and lacks a user guide. Objective: To develop an effective OAKKU web application user guide using participatory action research (PAR). Materials and Methods: The design of the present study was PAR. The study was conducted in two loops of PAR at two asthma clinics, with the eight participation of physicians, nurses, nurse assistants, and pharmacists. Data was collected through group meetings, brainstorming sessions, situational analysis, and real-time observation during work. Data analysis was carried out using content analysis and mean. Results: The results revealed challenges as the followings. Physicians lacked awareness due to the effectiveness of current treatments and difficulties in accessing information on asthmagens, coupled with limited time for searching. Although the OAKKU web application was developed and implemented, language barriers and complex search functions posed usability issues. To address these challenges, user guides were developed, and the OAKKU web application was translated into Thai, while search functionalities were simplified. Experimental results demonstrated high effectiveness, as evidenced by a usability test score of 4.88 out of 5 for ease of understanding and satisfaction. Additionally, the OAKKU web application significantly reduced search time. Conclusion: The OAKKU web application user guide, developed through PAR, significantly enhanced the OAKKU web application. These included improvements to incorporate Thai language supports and simplifies the search process, resulting in more effective searches.