As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker I’ve seen firsthand the value of connecting people with effective tools that support and empower them to become active members in their healthcare journeys.

Through my various roles, I worked with people who experienced complex physical and mental health issues that could be traced back to many interwoven factors including trauma, genetics, environmental factors, barriers to care, etc.

While  interviewing and assessing these individuals, it was imperative to gather information from a holistic wellness lens in order to paint a comprehensive picture of their overall biopsychosocial health to develop effective treatment plans .

Recently I started to research current healthcare apps and noticed some interesting trends.

• Currently, health apps are often separated into medical apps, mental health apps, or fitness apps.

• Its rare to have a one-stop shop approach that combines all aspects of healthcare into one app or portal.

Beyond that, I discovered that while many healthcare portals exist today, few on the market aim to use advanced technology to better help users’ understand how their mind and body connections affect their health.

Mindful Medicine is here to change that.

• Mindful Medicine is an accessible healthcare portal with an emphasis on holistic wellness that allows users to track and manage aspects of their physical, mental, and spiritual needs all in one secure space. 

Users are also connected to educational resources, healthcare providers, and useful tools to discover connections and patterns between their physical and mental health. 

 When people feel like they understand and are in control of their bodies and minds, they are more likely to stay engaged with medical treatment, advocate for their needs, and ultimately transform their lives one step at a time.

This was a project during my UX Immersion Course at CareerFoundry.

During the course I had to receive task approval from my CareerFoundry tutor and portfolio approval from my CareerFoundry mentor.

I was able to discuss questions and receive feedback with CareerFoundry leaders and peers via Slack.

An onboarding page (a screen or screens that show(s) the user the basics of getting started)

A way to sign up and log in that lets users input and save their personal information

A home screen or dashboard where users can access their information

A menu that allows users to navigate the application

A feature that allows users to store and log their medical and health information

(e.g., appointments, medication/supplements, diagnoses, daily activity trackers, journal options, mood trackers. etc.)

An education and training feature that supports the users in learning more about

health and wellness (variety of options and comprehension levels: articles, videos, podcasts, games)

A feature that allows users to see patterns between their physical and mental health (graphs/charts)

Security features to ensure users’ PHI (persona health information) is HIPAA compliant and safe in portal

• Understand what users are looking for in a health and wellness portal.

• Learn about issues users have experienced in the past when using health and wellness apps.

• Discover what aspects users enjoy in their current health and wellness apps.

Interviewed 3 participants within the target age group who have used health and wellness apps before

1. Tell me a bit about yourself. What do you do for work and fun?  

2. What are some of your interests and daily routines?

3. What does holistic wellness mean to you?

4. Do you have any health or wellness routines already established in your day to day life?

5. Do you currently use any health or wellness apps to manage or improve your physical or mental health needs? Which ones? 

6. Why have you chosen to use health and wellness portals/apps now or in the past? What were the goals you were hoping to achieve?

7. What do you find helpful when trying to manage your physical and mental health needs online?

8. Why do you think managing your health and wellness needs online can be difficult at times?

9. Have you recently used health and wellness apps? Can you share with me what your experience with this has been like? What were things that frustrated you and things that  motivated you to keep going?

10. What elements would you add to your online health/wellness experiences to make them more beneficial?

11. What are activities you would expect to be able to track/manage in a healthcare portal. 

12. What features do you think makes a health/wellness app feel inclusive and accessible to users?

13. How would discovering and tracking patterns between your physical and mental health be helpful to you?

• Creating user app interaction from a strengths based approach will increase confidence/motivation and decrease shame/resistance.

• Gaining users’ trust (specifically with their PHI) is vital to their motivation and comfort when using the app. This is a non-negotiable standard we will always meet.

• Having to input health info regularly can decrease user motivation. This app will attempt to minimize user effort and screen time.

• Nowadays users typically have multiple apps to manage their health/wellness needs. We will aim to be a one stop shop so users can focus on one app and save time.

• Because simple and easy to use features are vital staples of an inclusive/accessible app, we will put this at the forefront of our design process.

Introduction:

Mindful Medicine Moderated Remote Usability Test (Mobile)

Stakeholders: TBD

Last Updated: 10/23/2021

Background:

Mindful Medicine is a secure and intuitive health and wellness portal that allows users to manage most aspects of their healthcare in one convenient place. The app is designed for users with multiple health and wellness needs who aim to manage, understand, and transform their healthcare in a holistic approach.

Goals:

The goal of this study is to assess the learnability for new users interacting with the heath and wellness application for the first time on mobile. We would like to observe users’ understanding and comfort levels navigating the app and how to complete basic initial functions such as signing up, locating a needed resource, adding appointments, etc.

Test Objectives:

Observe users’ ease and comfort of the app while navigating basic functions.

Observe users’ understanding of completing specific tasks.

Methodology:

The study will be held remotely on Zoom at the participants’ chosen setting and will be conducted as a moderated remote test. The test will include a test overview, informed consent signing, mobile test with the Mindful Medicine app, and a debriefing.

Participants:

The study will test 5-10 participants who were recruited through researcher’s personal network to participate in the study. They were screened for basic demographic information and for their interest in managing and learning more about their health and wellness.

Schedule:

Usability test sessions will take place on (TBD) via Zoom. Sessions are scheduled between 5:00pm - 9:00pm.

Sessions:

Participants will individually participate in 10-15 minute usability test sessions on their mobile device.

Equipment:

Testing will be carried on the participants’ persona devices whether mobile or desktop. Testings and recordings will be done via Zoom.

Metrics:

Errors will be measured using Jakob Nielsen’s scale:

0 = I don't agree that this is a usability problem at all

1 = Cosmetic problem only: need not be fixed unless extra time is available on project

2 = Minor usability problem: fixing this should be given low priority

3 = Major usability problem: important to fix and should be given high priority

4 = Usability catastrophe: imperative to fix before product can be released

Test Script: TBD

Test Tasks: TBD

The study will test 5-10 participants who were recruited through researcher’s personal network to participate in the study. They were screened for basic demographic information and for their interest in managing and learning more about their health and wellness.

Introduction

Hi (participant’s name). My name is Laura Rountree. I am the Lead Designer for a new health and wellness app. I will be guiding you through the test.

Today we will be asking you to test out a new health and wellness app called Mindful Medicine. We hope these tests show us what works well on the app and what needs to be improved. Please remember there are no right or wrong answers. We ae testing the app not you. Any and all feedback is useful.

We will begin by asking you some general questions and then move on to completing specific tasks in the app. Throughout the test we ask you to “think out loud” and share your thoughts while completing each tasks. This will help us gain better insight into your feelings and thoughts while you are in the app. This is extremely helpful and will allow us to make the app better. The test will take a total of 15-20 minutes to complete.

Lastly, before we begin I need to ask your permission for the session to be video recorded. The recording will be used for research purposes only and will not be shared anywhere else.

If at any point you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to ask away. Also feel free to let us know if you need a break or need to end the session early. Do you have any questions or concerns at this time? No? Okay! Again thank you so much for your participation!

Demographics

Please select your age range:

• 24-34 years

• 35-45 years

• 45-55 years

• 55+

Where do you live?

What is your current occupation? Are you single or partnered?

Do you have children?

Background Questions:

Before we take start, I’ll ask you a few brief questions to help me better understand how you might use Mindful Medicine.

• Do you have any health/wellness apps you currently use regularly to manage your healthcare? Which ones?

• What are you favorite features on these apps? Why?

• What features do you wish were included in these apps that currently are not? Why?

Open-ended questions

Thanks for taking the time answer these questions! Now, I would like to show you the Mindful Medicine app and get your initial feelings and thoughts.

Take a moment to look over the home page. Before you click on anything, what is your first impression of the app? Does anything immediately stand out to you? What are some things you like or don’t like about the app? What do you think about the information shown on the screen? Please think out loud as much as you can!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and impressions with me! I really appreciate it!

Now that you’ve looked at Mindful Medicine, can you tell me what the purpose of the app is? Thank you! Now, we’ll give you a few tasks to do using the app.

Tasks

Now we’ll give you three tasks. As you complete each task, please remember to think out loud and share with us how you’re thinking and feeling as you navigate through the app.

1. You have not been sleeping well and suspect it may be related to your recent diagnosis of depression. Using Mindful Medicine, please find an article about sleep habits and depression.

2. You scheduled your annual physical with your primary care physician. Use Mindful Medicine to add this appointment into your schedule.

3. You are interested in learning and talking to others about common mind and body connections that can affect your health. Use Mindful Medicine, to discuss common holistic connections with Mindful Medicine’s online community.

Wrap-Up

Okay! That’s the end of the session! Thanks for participating and helping me better understand how I can improve Mindful Medicine. Pease let me know if you have any further questions or comments. Thank you!

• Most participants were confused by Icon symbols and meanings

• Every participant had issues with Add Appointment task. These screens need to be reworked.

• Almost every participant thought first click for first task would be Mental Health Tab not Resource Icon

• Once users knew what the icons meant they explained app felt more intuitive and easy to use

• Most participants understood and like idea of Mind/Body Connection feature but they were confused by icon and screen layout