JMIR Human Factors

(Re-)designing health care and making health care interventions and technologies usable, safe, and effective.

Editor-in-Chief:

Andre Kushniruk, BA, MSc, PhD, FACMI, School of Health Information Science, University of Victoria, Canada


Impact Factor 3.0 CiteScore 4.8

JMIR Human Factors (JHF, ISSN 2292-9495) is a multidisciplinary journal with contributions from design experts, medical researchers, engineers, and social scientists.

JMIR Human Factors focuses on understanding how the behaviour and thinking of humans can influence and shape the design of health care interventions and technologies, and how the design can be evaluated and improved to make health care interventions and technologies usable, safe, and effective. This includes usability studies and heuristic evaluations, studies concerning ergonomics and error prevention, design studies for medical devices and healthcare systems/workflows, enhancing teamwork through Human Factors based teamwork training, measuring non-technical skills in staff like leadership, communication, situational awareness and teamwork, and healthcare policies and procedures to reduce errors and increase safety.

JMIR Human Factors focuses aspires to lead health care towards a culture of "usability by design", as well as to a culture of testing, error-prevention and safety, by promoting and publishing reports rigorously evaluating the usability and human factors aspects in health care, as well as encouraging the development and debate on new methods in this emerging field. Possible contributions include usability studies and heuristic evaluations, studies concerning ergonomics and error prevention, design studies for medical devices and healthcare systems/workflows, enhancing teamwork through human factors-based teamwork training, measuring non-technical skills in staff like leadership, communication, situational awareness and teamwork, and healthcare policies and procedures to reduce errors and increase safety. Reviews, viewpoint papers and tutorials are as welcome as original research.

All articles are professionally copyedited and typeset.

JMIR Human Factors is indexed in National Library of Medicine (NLM)/MEDLINE, PubMed, PubMed Central, DOAJ, Scopus, Sherpa Romeo, PsycINFO, and the Web of Science (WoS)/ESCI.

JMIR Human Factors received a Journal Impact Factor of 3.0 according to the latest release of the Journal Citation Reports from Clarivate, 2025.

With a Citescore of 4.8 (2024), JMIR Human Factors is a Q2 journal in the field of Human Factors and Ergonomics, according to Scopus data.


Recent Articles

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User-Centered Design Case Studies

Patients with insomnia have difficulty in both falling asleep and maintaining sleep. Individuals with long-term sleep deprivation are prone to poor concentration and impaired memory; however, these problems can be alleviated following brief behavioral treatment for insomnia (BBT-I). This study involved the design of an app called “Sleep Well” that enables individuals with insomnia to easily record their sleep behavior. The app guides users to recall and record sleep-related information, acquire sleep hygiene knowledge, and communicate with therapists online.

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Design, Usability, and Evaluation of Research Instruments, Scales, and Measures

Digital health technologies offer new opportunities for cognitive screening and monitoring among older adults. In Thailand, where dementia prevalence is rising, accessible web-based cognitive tools remain limited despite their potential to facilitate early detection and community-based assessment. Understanding usability and validity is critical to ensure successful implementation in real-world contexts.

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Design and Usability of Consumer Health Tech and Home Monitoring Devices

Antenatal care has been crucial in reducing maternal mortality. Currently, screening programs of pregnant women include blood pressure (BP) measurements, urine protein tests, and the identification of risk factors. Home monitoring can enhance the early detection and management of pregnancy-related hypertension, while also empowering women to take an active role in their own health care.

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User Needs and Competencies

Although fitness apps could promote healthier lifestyles, evidence on the effectiveness of app-based interventions remains inconsistent. Previous studies have used affordance theory to identify the factors that generate exercise-related value for users. However, many fitness app affordance studies have examined multiple fitness apps collectively, assuming similar design intentions across platforms. Moreover, most have relied on predefined affordances rather than investigating emergent or novel ones that may reveal unique user–fitness app interactions.

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Design of Processes and Workflows

The existing intravenous systemic anticancer therapy (SACT) pathway in pharmacies is operationally inefficient. Manual, paper-based workflows render the system prone to human error, and the need for time-consuming manual verification diverts pharmacy staff time. The introduction of an automated workflow solution for the intravenous SACT pathway could optimize treatment timeliness and improve oncological outcomes for patients, aligning with the National Health Service Long Term Plan for improved cancer care.

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User-Centered Design Case Studies

Pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a highly complex and time-critical process that demands precise team coordination and strict adherence to Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) guidelines. In real-world practice, adherence often deteriorates due to cognitive overload, fragmented communication, and disruption of information flow under stress. Although digital cognitive aids have shown potential to improve adherence, existing tools are often limited to single tasks, lack team-wide integration, or fail to adapt in real time to dynamic clinical environments.

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Design and Usability of Websites for Special User Groups

Adolescents face a variety of potential harms in the online environment, including exposure to distressing illegal material, cyberbullying, image-based abuse, and “sextortion.” Various agencies provide on-demand helpline and information services for children and adolescents to support them with navigating online (and offline) harms.

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Reviews on Human Factors

With the global increase in population aging, promoting walking as a health behavior to maintain and enhance well-being among older adults has become increasingly important. In recent years, advances in information and communication technology (ICT) and mobile health (mHealth) have supported the development of health interventions delivered through smartphone applications (apps). However, no review to date has included psychological aspects such as motivation or intention to walk, and the behavior change techniques (BCTs) embedded in smartphone apps that effectively promote walking remain unclear.

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Methods in Human Factors Research

Although chronic pain (CP) is highly prevalent, current modalities are not sufficient to address the needs of people living with this condition. Pharmacological treatments for CP can have severe side effects and increased likelihood of patients overdosing or developing addiction. Behavioral treatments are often indicated for the treatment of CP, but barriers to treatment are common. Virtual reality (VR)–based interventions have shown promise as an effective and potentially accessible form of treatment for CP. However, previous research on VR interventions for people living with CP has not often included diverse populations, including racial and ethnic minority groups and people with low socioeconomic status.

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Psychological, Behavioral, Social, and/or Cultural Experiments and Interventions

The widespread use of digital technologies has raised growing concerns about their impact on mental health. While self-regulation has been proposed as a protective factor, little is known about how distinct psychological profiles based on self-regulatory and technology use patterns relate to psychological distress. Person-centered approaches such as Latent Profile Analysis may offer deeper insights, particularly in underrepresented populations.

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Usability Evaluation Case Studies

Patient autonomy through informed consent is a foundational ethical principle for health care practitioners. Online consent processes risk producing “consent in name only,” using manipulative or confusing user interfaces to extract consent artificially. This presents a significant danger for safe and ethical remote consultations for primary care providers, which often extract significant amounts of sensitive personal data.

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Focus Groups and Qualitative Research for Human Factors Research

Over 1 million Dutch people have diabetes, of whom 90% have type 2 diabetes. Studies show that lifestyle plays an important role in the course of type 2 diabetes. MiGuide (MiGuide Ltd) is an online platform that helps people adopt and sustain lifestyle changes. The platform is integrated into existing diabetes care within primary care. Previous research has shown that implementing new (eHealth) interventions is challenging and may reduce effectiveness. Mapping out the barriers and success factors in the implementation process is essential so that eHealth interventions such as MiGuide can be used effectively in regular health care.

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Preprints Open for Peer Review

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Open Peer Review Period:

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