DearlyCare
Caregiving & Support
Personal Introduction to UX
As a caregiver and patient advocate, I’ve navigated the frustrating maze of healthcare platforms like MyChart. Those challenges sparked my passion for creating better, more intuitive tools to support patients and caregivers.
Objective for Caregivers and Care Receivers
Make it easy for caregivers to organize medical info—for one person or many.
Support better communication and engagement between caregivers and care receivers.
Offer helpful health education and self-care tools for both sides of the caregiving relationship.
Table of Contents (and methodology)
-
Problem Statement & Business Analysis ➛
Understanding the marketplace -
User Research & Interviews ➛
How our audience uses tech and healthcare apps -
Personas ➛
Bringing DearlyCare’s ideal users to life -
Site Map & User flow ➛
How to set up and use caregiver & care receiver accounts -
Caregiver Onboarding Flow ➛
Showing the complex relationship between caregivers & care receivers -
Prototype Development ➛
Building out the early version of DearlyCare
-
Usability Study (Round 1) ➛
What was learned from testing our first prototype -
Prototype Updates (Round 2) ➛
Improvements based on what we heard in the usability study -
Peer Review ➛
Feedback from fellow designers on what to tweak and polish -
Final Updates (Round 3) ➛
Last round of changes based on peer input -
Work Retrospective & Links ➛
Wrapping up with lessons learned and a design reference for the future
Problem Statement & Business Analysis
Problem Statement
As a caregiver living with chronic conditions, I need a simple way to keep my own and my loved one’s health info organized. That way, I can focus on learning, making healthy changes, and supporting their well-being without feeling overwhelmed.
Business Research Results
- Competition in the market is created for medical staff and insurance, not unpaid caregivers.
- Caregivers are usually females (50%-87%).
- Reputable self-care apps do not typically include the ability to track medical prescriptions.
Competitive Analysis
Medicational & Health Management
Results-based Self-care
User Research & Interviews
User Research
I wanted to confirm research findings among a local demographic of individuals aged 45 or older, the age when caregiving responsibilities typically increase.
Interview Goals
- How do people manage their personal medical info?
- What tasks do they want (or avoid) in a medical app?
- What frustrations do they have with health apps?
- What are common views on exercise, stress and caregiving in health apps?
Participants
- Frank, 75 retired clinical psychologist
- Vicki, 65 hospice nurse
- Marsha, 55 substitute teacher
- Irena, 55 pianist
User Interview Insights
Doctors, not patients, decide
how communication is organized – by phone, fax, message or app.
Doctor's offices were
unreliable in responding to messages
from participants through medical apps.
Patients are often overwhelmed
by multiple doctors, changing meds, and different hospital system apps.
All female participants are caregivers
to dependent family members. That means they are responsible for the health of multiple people.
Participants feel indifferent about medication management,
but they all have chronic health conditions that require prescriptions.
Health is more than medication
management to participants. Exercise, socializing, and stress management all play a role in smartphone health app use.
