QUANTITATIVE USABILITY STUDY ON IOT-BASED HUMAN-CENTERED SECURITY INTERFACES FOR HOSPITAL CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Abstract

The increasing digitization of hospital critical infrastructures has intensified the demand for secure yet highly usable interface systems that enable clinicians and administrative personnel to perform tasks efficiently without compromising data protection. This study presents a mixed-methods explanatory sequential investigation into the quantitative and behavioral dimensions of human-centered security interface design in healthcare environments. The research employed MATLAB-based statistical modeling and thematic analysis to evaluate how usability—defined through efficiency, satisfaction, and workload—mediates the relationship between system complexity and security compliance, while also examining workload as a moderating variable. Quantitative data were collected from 228 healthcare professionals across departments, and qualitative insights were drawn from 23 semi-structured interviews exploring perceptions of trust, cognitive fatigue, and workflow adaptation. The quantitative findings revealed that usability significantly predicts compliance (β = .61, p < .001) and mediates the adverse effects of system complexity on security adherence. Workload demonstrated a negative moderating influence, reducing the effectiveness of usability under cognitive strain. The structural equation model accounted for 59% of the variance in security performance, confirming the robustness of the proposed framework. Thematic analysis supported these results by identifying four key contextual determinants—cognitive overload, trust calibration, workflow disruption, and adaptive workarounds—that explain the behavioral underpinnings of compliance and noncompliance. Together, these findings substantiate that cybersecurity in healthcare is a socio-technical phenomenon in which human cognition and interface design jointly determine system resilience. The study contributes to the theoretical and practical advancement of human-centered cybersecurity by empirically validating the usability–security nexus, demonstrating that intuitive, transparent, and cognitively efficient designs foster both operational reliability and institutional security culture. These insights offer a foundation for redesigning hospital security systems that are simultaneously secure, usable, and aligned with the cognitive demands of clinical practice.