Overview

After conducting qualitative research and analysis, we discovered that residents of Van Buren/Cass County struggle to locate and access local resources, events, and health-related information. To address this challenge, I conceptualized a mobile application for the Van Buren/Cass District Health Department. The proposed application would consolidate information on social resources, events, and health recommendations, while linking users to relevant local social programs. Furthermore, this intervention aims to aid the health department in gathering community data, enabling them to identify gaps in existing social programs and better serve the needs of the community.

The Problem

Our team partnered with Van Buren/Cass District Health Department (VBCDHD) for their proposed mobile applicaiton, HealthLink. HealthLink aims to address the lack of a comprehensive overview of reliable health and social resources in Van Buren and Cass District communities. The goal is to assist residents in finding community resources, events, and health information.

These communities are highly rural and experience ‘food deserts’ and lack of wellness facilities. Existing online resources are inadequate for mobile users, and there is currently no consolidated method of finding local resources.

Where We Started:

At the beginning of this project, VBCDHD envisioned that HealthLink would be a personal health tracker, connected to local community events.

Research Process

Key Guiding Research Questions:

1. How and where do communities in Van Buren/Cass District currently search for resources, events, and health related information?
2. How can the HealthLink app be integrated with existing community resources to create a comprehensive and coordinated approach to promoting wellness in Van Buren and Cass County?

Competitive Analysis

What are Indirect Competitors Doing?

• Preventing Information Overload: For users with minimal health literacy, it’s important to prevent information overload when presenting health-related information. Intuitive information hierarchy should be prioritized, absent of confusing medical jargon.
• Prioritizing Designs that Save Time: Users report satisfaction with applications that help them save time, rather than add onto their list of daily tasks. For example, streamlining meal planning through customized recipe plans, or automating grocery lists.
• Focusing on a Niche: Too many functionalities can become confusing, and create a barrier to onboarding and user adherence.

What are Direct Competitors Doing?

• Educational resources are often displayed with lengthy text and poor information architecture, making it difficult for users to scan and digest the information.
• Upcoming clinics and health department resources are often prioritized on the home screen.
• Documents and information regarding social programs are able to be accessed on the apps.

Interviews & Social Media Thematic Analysis

I conducted 3 remote interviews with community members of Van Buren/Cass County. Because our team had difficulty with recruitment, we supplemented our research with a social media thematic analysis of communities related to Van Buren/Cass District.

“…we need something that shows the community where they can go and what they can do. Whether they're looking for physical activity, events, places to get food…all types of resources. The community around here is really lost. They don't know where to turn to.”

-User Interview Participant 2

“…our community needs to be more focused on helping these people find the resources that are gonna better themselves. And their families.”

-User Interview Participant 1

“It’s hard to find where things are happening. Sometimes there’ll be free exercise classes, but they only advertise on signs. Sometimes there are free pot lucks but they’ll only be posted in certain Facebook groups. It’s hard for everyone to access them.”

-User Interview Participant 3

Survey

We found several online communities related to Van Buren/Cass County, communicated our intent to moderators, and distributed the survey onto these sites. We received 48 survey responses.

36 out of 48 respondents reported difficulty maintaining a healthy lifestyle. However, the 12 participants who claimed no difficulty were more likely to report unhealthy eating and exercise habits, suggesting a lack of understanding of what constitutes a "healthy lifestyle”.

“Another health and wellness app is not going to help. Poverty-stricken areas don’t care about health tracking, we want to find where and how we can get what we need.”

-Survey Response

Stakeholder Prioritization of Functions

We met with our stakeholders and asked them to rank functionalities and affordances from most important to least important.

Design Approach

1. Community Event Directory

Include a community event directory feature based on user feedback and client requirements. Currently, community events are posted by individuals and event organizers on various online social communities, making it difficult for users to systematically search for specific local events.

2. Community Resource Directory

Include a local resource directory centralizing health-related resources in Van Buren and Cass Counties based on the finding that there is currently no consolidated method of finding specific resources.

3. Health Recommendations

Provide simple health recommendations (stretches, at-home strength exercises, etc.) that can be completed without access to a gym. Tailor recommendations based on individual health information (age, sex, weight).

Brainstorming & Ideation

Two cognitive walkthroughs were conducted with consumer healthcare technology industry experts on our low-fidelity designs. We decided to remove all personal health tracker functionalities in further iterations, given that our discovery research indicated this functionality was not prioritized by users or stakeholders.

Usability Testing

We conducted 2 rounds of usability tests. All usability tests were conducted virtually, with 6 participants in total.

In our first iteration, users were prompted to input specific health information (ex. full DOB, specific health conditions, etc). Users expressed concerns about privacy when entering this information, and expressed confusion towards medical jargon related to health conditions.

I don’t feel comfortable entering in my conditions, and confused why it’s needed for a health recommendation. —— Usability Tester 3

This assessment categorizes users into low, medium, or high health risk levels, enabling the application to suggest physical recommendations based on risk, rather than specific health characteristics. We clarified the purpose and usage of the collected health information, ensuring transparency and building trust with users. Furthermore, we provided the option to skip the health risk assessment, recognizing that some users may prefer not to disclose personal health details.

For example: During usability tests, 4 out of 6 users failed to find a local park on HealthLink because they did not associate 'parks' with the 'fitness' category where parks were placed.

“When I’m looking for a park, I don’t associate it with fitness. It’s more of a leisure activity for me.”