Card Sorting and Strategy

IDIA 630Ling Ling Ng, Justin Scruggs, Pamela Gibbs

Outline

● Card Sort Overview ● Participants

● Card Sorting Results

● Participant Feedback

● Strategy

● Appendix

Assessment

In-class workshop/discussions within our group (i.e. more specific categories to make navigation easier to understand for users)

Content inventory data (i.e. main finding for navigation: “Categorize and label content by type of user”)

■ Professionals■ PTSD Victims■ Family/Friends of PTSD

Victims●●●●

Closed Card Sort

5 main categories for the closed card sort:

● Home● What is PTSD?● Treatment &

Coping● Professionals● About Us

Closed Card Sort Continued

Utilized content inventory data and settled on 38 cards for the closed card sort:PTSD Basics Types of

TraumaAboutFace Treatment

OverviewFind Help Help with VA

PTSD CareLocate a Clinic Self Help

Do I have PTSD

Apps, Videos, & Resources

Family & Caregivers

Women Children Cultural Considerations

Asian Amer. & Pacific Islander

African Amer. Vets

Native American Vets

Hispanic Veterans

Cross Cultural Considerations

Forms & Handouts

Assessments Adult Interviews & Self Report

Measures & Screens

Treatments

Early Intervention

Education & Manuals

Courses Research & Publications

Treatment Options

What We Do PTSD Awareness

Divisions & Staff

Press & Promotion

Positions Available

About our Website

Subscribe for Updates

Newsletters & Update

Participants

● Professionals within the field

● Those directly affected with PTSD

● Those who have a friend or family member with PTSD

Participants

Average Completion Time

Closed Sort Open Sort

8 minutes 11/12 minutes

What We Were Trying to Discover

● Which items appeared together most often?

● Which items did participants struggle to classify?

● What new suggestions or labels were made?

● Were any items put in more than one grouping?

● Were any other items of interest brought up during the sessions?

Results of Closed Card Sort

● Cards that participants struggled to classify into the same category were: 1 - “Apps, Videos and Resources,” and 2 -“Cross-Cultural Considerations” as well as “Cultural Considerations”

● Cards that appeared together consistently with the same category were: “Measures & Screens” placed within “Professionals,” and “Self Help” placed within “Treatment & Coping”

● New labels that participants created were: “Individuals & Family,” “Staff & Positions,” and “Treatment & Trauma”

● Items that participants placed into more than one category were: “What we Do,” “Divisions & Staff,” and “Positions Available”

● Were any other items of interest brought up during the sessions?

1

2

Participant Feedback

● Sort: Closed○ Participant 1: Baltimore, MD○ Comment: “There seems to be a fair

amount of overlap with cards. Condense these into similar groups, and create less options.”

○○ Participant 2: Catonsville, MD

Comment: “The treatment cards seemed like they could go under ‘Treatment & Coping’, or under ‘What is PTSD?’”

● Sort: Open○ Participant 3: Catonsville, MD

Comment: “The categories seemed easy enough to logically create to fit most cards. However, the cards themselves should be more diverse.”

Strategy

To provide the VA PTSD with an understanding of how end users label/categorize information, resulting in a navigation that is functional and simple.

The ProblemUsers must decide between the options of For the Public and For Professionals which may potentially cause confusion;

The navigation at first glance does not easily answer the following questions:

a. What is PTSD? b. What causes PTSD?c. What are the symptoms and Risks of PTSD?d. How is PTSD diagnosed?e. Where to get treatment for PTSD?

Information is redundant both in the navigation and on the individual pages; makes the website seem cluttered and overwhelming;

• Public Section Home is redundant; PTSD Home is sufficient to provide a general overview;

• It takes four clicks to answer “What is PTSD?”; three from the navigation and one in the actual page;

• PTSD Basics is a duplication of What is PTSD?; delete it and PTSD Overview and add What is PTSD? to nav, and change it to Definition;

• Add Symptoms page to nav instead of keeping it as an imbedded link; combine it with Other Common Problems since information is similar;

Public Section

Public Section• Types of Trauma (TOT) purpose is unclear;

does not provide an explanation when clicked; change to Causes and provide a summary;

• TOT already includes War thus Return from War is redundant;

• Move Specific to Women under Causes since special considerations apply;

• Remove PTSD and Communities; with the exception of Journalism and PTSD, everything under the Trauma in Your Community is redundant; add PTSD and Journalism under Causes;

• Add Resources & Tools to the nav with specific subsections pertaining to Veterans, Family & Friends, Employers, Educational Institutions, Legal System & Law Enforcement;

Public Section

● Add PTSD to Tests and Diagnosis; this is more descriptive

● Treatment and Coping section: remove the sections What Can I Do if I Think I Have PTSD and How to Talk to Your Doctor about Trauma and PTSD under Getting Started with Treatment;

● Rearrange the order of Getting Started to What’s Stopping You?, Choosing a Therapist (combine Types of Therapists and Choosing a Therapist), and then Find a Therapist

● Combine Where to Get Help for PTSD and Help with VA PTSD Care or Benefits; simplify by changing it to Get Help;

● Delete Apps, Videos, and More- information already is provided on other pages pages thus redundant;

● Make Paginas en Espanol a main nav heading instead of a subheading; remove all the links on other pages for the Spanish translation to keep pages clean and less cluttered- this is more user friendly to Spanish speaking users;

Public Section

Public Section User Profiles

Corey WinslowPublic: Veteran

“I’ve been feeling bad lately and I’m not sure if it could be

PTSD and if it is... what should I do? I don’t think

staying at home will help me.”

Sarah Marie RodriguezPublic: Caregiver/Wife

“I don’t know what is happening with my husband right now- everything

changed since he returned from his last tour….this is supposed to be an

exciting time in our lives...

Jon Marks, U.S.M.CPublic: Veteran w/ PTSD

“Discovering new ways of interpreting my experiences with

war and processing through them is something I can’t discover very

easily.”

● Outside of professionals, users are coming to site to seek information- their level of familiarity or understanding of PTSD can not be assumed

● Competitors immediately define PTSD, provide its causes, symptoms, and risk factors at first glance; do not overuse links; geared site to individuals

● The Mayo Clinic provides users with a hint of what to do next

Public Section

WebMD

NIMH

Mayo Clinic

Proposed IA for Public Section

Individuals, Families & Community

Veterans

What is PTSD

Family & Friends

Causes

Symptoms

Tests & Diagnosis

Get Help

Self-Help & Coping

Children

Employers

Educational Institutions

Legal Systems

Research

Treatment & Coping

Resources & Tools

Grouped topics by order of significance to the user

Professional Section

• It can be assumed that users in this section are more advanced and less likely to spend time looking for information because:

a) They already have an understanding of PTSD;

b) Their reason for going to the site is very specific;

“I need to stay current with my continuing education courses, as well as be able to provide the at-risk youth administrators that I train, the appropriate training and tools.”

“Being able to stay current with my continuing ed requirements and discovering relevant resources for research in order to provide my patients with the right tools to diagnose them is of utmost important.”

Professional Section

• Delete Professional Section Home, have this page appear when For Professionals is clicked;

• PTSD Consultation is for providers that help Veterans; it correctly shows up as a sub-heading under the Professionals section, but then shows up as a nav heading; delete nav heading because of redundancy;

• Combine Treatment and Assessments, change the heading to Tests and Diagnosis; delete the individual breakdown of the measures and add two subsections Measures by PTSD and Measures by Other Organizations;

• Move the specific considerations which deal with gender, race, children, etc from under Treatment as well as Types of Trauma under the created nav heading Resources & Toolkits;

Professional Section

Professional Section

• Delete the Specific Providers section as it is redundant;

• Remove all courses and training materials that are listed in multiple sections such as PTSD Overview, Assessment, Treatment, Co-Occurring Conditions; place them in one place under Training & Education; keeping in one place, organized by category will help professionals find what they need quickly;

Professional Section

● Combine Research and Publications as a heading from the nav

● Have PILOTS Database be a subsection of this heading

PILOTS Database

Proposed IA for Professionals Section

For Professionals

Tests & Diagnosis

Measures by NCPTSD

Measures by Other Organizations

What is PTSD

Education & Manuals

Research & Publications

Treatment & Coping

Get Help

Self-Help & Coping

Resources & Tools

Veterans

Children

Community Providers & Clergy

Family & Friends

Disaster Responders

Medical Doctors

Employers Educational Institutions

Legal Systems Research

Grouped topics by order of interest to the user

Professional Section

• Take advantage of chunking by creating three major categories for the About Us Section; Who Are We, Initiatives, and Working With Us

- this will help clean out the structure, making it easier to navigate

• Delete PTSD Awareness and PTSD Consultation, as they are already included elsewhere

The Remaining Site

● Remove the incorrectly placed links under the About Website subsection nav: Site Map, Privacy, Accessibility;

● Change Website Policies to Disclaimer and move to the bottom of the page;

● Remove information that should be reserved for internal staff from being accessed through the nav: Content Inventory, Linking Policies, Small Business POC, and Updating of Website

• Condense links at the bottom of page to not overwhelm users- Disclosures, Privacy, Terms of Use, FAQs, Legal Notices, Affiliates, Careers, Resources for Veterans, Site Map, Contact Us;

• Move the social media icons to the right

• Remove email updates from the bottom entirely

• Use logo hyperlinked icons for any partners that needs to be highlighted to provide a cleaner look

The Remaining Site

The Remaining Site

Make use of pop up boxes to hide text information, and provide a cleaner look to pages; this will allow for the consolidation of nav headings such as the Divisions and Staff;

Proposed IA for rest of the site

About UsWho we are

Our History

Mission, Vision and Goals

Our Future Outlook

Leadership & Divisions

Social Media & Awareness

Press Releases

Initiatives

Doing Business with Us

Working at NCPTSD

Working with Us

Student Programs

Media Kit & Contacts

Logo & Widgets

NCPTSD Careers

Research

Education

Milestones, Awards & Achievements

The solution

• Provide clearer descriptions for the nav headings;

• Consolidate headings that either can be grouped together or provide like content;

• Keep inline with the Rule of Seven (how much a person can rememer)

• Reduce the amount of links embedded in the pages- results in confusion, redundancy, clutter, and can potentially have end users getting lost and/or overwhelmed;

• Use the Home Page as a way to pull attention to key things users are looking for

• Refrain from duplicating information in under different sections of the nav

About UsWho we are

Our History

Mission, Vision and Goals

Our Future Outlook

Leadership & Divisions

Social Media & Awareness

Press Releases

Initiatives

Doing Business with Us

Working at NCPTSD

Working with Us

Media Kit & Contacts

Logo & Widgets

NCPTSD Careers

Research

EducationMilestones, Awards &

Achievements

PILOTS Database

For Professionals

Tests & DiagnosisMeasures by

NCPTSDMeasures by Other

Organizations

What is PTSD

Education & Manuals

Research & Publications

Treatment & Coping

Get Help

Self-Help & Coping

Resources & Tools

Veterans

Children

Community Providers & Clergy

Family & Friends

Disaster Responders

Medical Doctors

EmployersEducational Institutions

Legal Systems Research

Individuals, Families & Community

Veterans

What is PTSD

Family & Friends

Causes

SymptomsTests &

Diagnosis

Get Help

Self-Help & Coping

Children

Employers

Educational Institutions

Legal Systems

Research

Treatment & Coping

Resources & Tools

Appendix A: Complete Site Map