ProHealth App

A Mobile App for Lifestyle Disease Management

PROBLEM STATEMENT

A significant issue persists in the world of fitness apps: many of these applications focus exclusively on helping users achieve athletic goals or attain a specific, idealized body image. Unfortunately, they often overlook the needs of individuals managing lifestyle diseases like COPD, CVD, obesity, and diabetes. These apps tend to offer a one-size-fits-all approach that doesn't consider the unique challenges and requirements of those dealing with health conditions. This oversight results in a lack of inclusivity and effectiveness for a substantial portion of the population.

The ProHealth application project represents a distinctive approach to health technology. In collaboration with Professor Yogesh Kumar Meena and a dedicated colleague, Aditi Agarwal, who specializes in machine learning, this endeavour stands as a research project with the aspiration of contributing to scholarly work.

OVERVIEW

ProHealth application project takes a distinctive approach. Powered by advanced Machine Learning models running in the background, our application provides personalized insights and goal-setting mechanisms designed specifically for individuals dealing with lifestyle diseases. By analyzing individual health data and lifestyle factors, we offer practical, data-driven guidance to help users define attainable health goals. Our app empowers users by allowing them to personalize their goals and keep comprehensive track of their activities.

Design Process

ROLE

UX Researcher

DURATION

12 weeks

TOOLS

Discover Phase

Qualitative Research

In a prior phase of the project, a dedicated research team conducted qualitative research to gain insights into the effectiveness and user preferences of an "eCoach application" in the eHealth domain. Their research was guided by the following research questions (RQs), and the findings provided valuable insights for our project:

RQ-1: What are the opportunities for an "eCoach application" in eHealth?

RQ-2: What type of goal setting will be needed for self-management of behaviour for a healthy lifestyle?

RQ-3: Which feedback from an eCoach to the users would have an effective impact on the have an effective impact on the motivation for self-management of their behavior?

RQ-4: How should the feedback be presented, and what information should be visualized and how?

Key Insights:

  • Users emphasize the importance of setting goals that are realistic and attainable, allowing for flexibility.

  • Being part of a social community and engaging in social competition can provide motivation and support.

  • Users enjoy streaks and challenges as they promote consistency and motivation.

  • Users prefer the flexibility to engage in physical activities they enjoy, which keeps them motivated.

  • Users prefer the ability to set long-term goals that are divided into daily, actionable objectives.

  • Users want access to a wide range of parameters and statistics, such as weight goals, mood, history, trends, and comparisons with others.

Systematic Literature Review

The systematic literature review conducted in this study was meticulously planned and focused on design principles and user-centric aspects in lifestyle-disease monitoring applications, with a particular emphasis on mobile apps and wearable sensors. The following key components were considered:

Inclusion Criteria: Studies were included if they directly addressed the research objectives, particularly focusing on design principles and user-centric aspects in lifestyle-disease monitoring applications. Articles had to be in the English language.

Keywords: A range of keywords were employed to identify relevant articles, including ("design principles" OR "design methods") AND ("eCoach app" OR "mHealth app"), ("health app" OR "eCoach") AND specific disease terms like COPD, obesity, diabetes, and CVD.

Databases: The search was conducted in prominent databases, including Google Scholar, Scopus, JMIR, and ACM.

The initial search, conducted without language or date restrictions, yielded 2,147 papers. After removing duplicate papers, 1,895 papers remained. Following the screening of titles and abstracts, 156 papers exhibited potential relevance to the systematic review's focus. A detailed review of these 156 papers led to the inclusion of 39 papers.

Findings

The systematic review was instrumental in identifying important trends and insights in the available literature. The articles retrieved included valuable information on design strategies for developing health apps, gamification design, pilot tests, and the evaluation of existing health apps.

  • Visual Data: Utilizing easily comprehensible visualizations of health metrics, such as step count, calories burnt, and inactive time, simplifies users' understanding of their health progress.

  • Physical Activity Recommendation: Providing personalized recommendations for physical activities and exercises based on individual health profiles helps users stay aligned with their health goals.

  • Metaphorical Design: Incorporating visual metaphors in progress reporting enhances user satisfaction, making goal progress more engaging and relatable.

  • Gamification: Implementing gamification strategies motivates and encourages users to achieve their health goals, adding an element of fun and motivation to the user experience.

Define Phase

User Person

This process was done to define the target audience with more clarity, as well as illustrate their needs and actions. It helped me gain perspective on their thoughts and feelings. The data in the personas are based on the insights from the qualitative research conducted earlier.

Two distinct user personas were identified,

Proactive Wellness Seeker – This persona uses the app to prevent lifestyle diseases, focusing on staying healthy, tracking fitness, and maintaining a balanced routine to avoid potential health issues.

Lifestyle Health Manager – This persona uses the app to manage an existing lifestyle disease, prioritizing tracking symptoms, monitoring treatments, and managing health routines for ongoing disease control.

Design Space

Based on the systematic literature review, I created a design space that will serve as an outline of strategy for further developing our health monitoring application.

Ideate Phase

User Flow

Design Phase

High-fidelity Prototype

In this section, we present the high-fidelity prototypes developed for the ProHealth app. These prototypes were meticulously designed using Figma, showcasing a refined user interface and interactions based on the insights gathered from our research and ideation phases.

Ultimately, these high-fidelity prototypes are not just a representation of the ProHealth app; they are a tangible step towards transforming our vision into reality. Together, we can pave the way for a healthier future.