MaiaA platform for therapists to improve client engagement and treatment outcomes
Nov 2019 - Mar 2020
Scope: UX/UI design I worked with the 3 co-founders of Maia - Jenna (a psychologist and therapist), Jerome (business and marketing), and Suranga (business and tech). |
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Challenge
Most of the work in therapy happens outside of therapy sessions. Many therapists assign homework activities to their clients and review past events with them when they come back in a week's or fortnight's time.
However, recall tends to be problematic and reviewing homework only when they come back means that time is wasted if the client encountered any problems doing the homework or forgot about it.
Homework activities are also completed through a variety of methods - pen and paper, emails, and activity-specific apps. Storing and compiling data from these different sources is an 'admin nightmare' for therapists.
Therapists need more effective ways to engage their client between sessions while maintaining boundaries.
However, recall tends to be problematic and reviewing homework only when they come back means that time is wasted if the client encountered any problems doing the homework or forgot about it.
Homework activities are also completed through a variety of methods - pen and paper, emails, and activity-specific apps. Storing and compiling data from these different sources is an 'admin nightmare' for therapists.
Therapists need more effective ways to engage their client between sessions while maintaining boundaries.
Process
Mapping the therapist's journey
At the beginning, the team knew that they wanted to develop a solution in the mental health space, but didn't have a clear idea of what problem to solve.
I ran a customer journey mapping session for the team get a better and shared understanding of what therapy involved and where the opportunities for Maia might be. We tapped on Jenna's experiences as a therapist to build the journey map.
I ran a customer journey mapping session for the team get a better and shared understanding of what therapy involved and where the opportunities for Maia might be. We tapped on Jenna's experiences as a therapist to build the journey map.
We identified 2 potential opportunity areas to target:
The team eventually decided to start by focusing on the problem of activity assignment and review while starting R&D work on an artificial intelligence supported solution for note-taking and summarization.
- Improving note-taking during sessions
- Improving (homework) activity assignment and review
The team eventually decided to start by focusing on the problem of activity assignment and review while starting R&D work on an artificial intelligence supported solution for note-taking and summarization.
Jobs to be done
I summarised the tasks and considerations involved in homework activity assignment and review in a 'jobs to be done' format.
Examples of activity assignment and review jobs to be done:
Subject area research
There have been many research papers published on the topic of homework compliance. I conducted a literature review on barriers to therapy homework compliance and strategies for increasing compliance.
To understand what therapists would be looking for when reviewing homework, I interviewed Jenna to find out more about her aims when assigning and reviewing homework.
Storyboarding
I created storyboards to describe the current experience and envision what future experience could look like.
These were used for discussions with the team to identify potential issues and gaps in our understanding.
These were used for discussions with the team to identify potential issues and gaps in our understanding.
A potential issue that came up for the 'future vision' storyboard was the use of devices during sessions.
Would therapists would be comfortable sharing their laptop or iPad screens with clients when reviewing homework or assigning and practicing new activities?
From the journey map, we knew that therapists do hand clients the iPad in certain situations, for example when completing psychometric assessments.
We consulted with Jenna again and found that, for her practice:
Would therapists would be comfortable sharing their laptop or iPad screens with clients when reviewing homework or assigning and practicing new activities?
From the journey map, we knew that therapists do hand clients the iPad in certain situations, for example when completing psychometric assessments.
We consulted with Jenna again and found that, for her practice:
- Computers / laptops would be used when preparing for the session but not when she is with the client
- Using a laptop in a session "feels like a barrier between therapist and client"
- She uses an iPad to take notes but often puts it aside when doing activities
- A lot of activities are action-based activities (e.g. yoga)
- Other activities - might use her hands / writing on whiteboard instead
- For mindfulness activities, looking at an iPad screen might feel contrary to the experience but playing audio is ok
- She uses Headspace (meditation app), putting it on speaker
Scoping
I created an 'aims and scope' document to outline content and functionality requirements for our first MVP.
App structure and wireframes
I laid out the app structure in the form of a site map and sketched wireframes so the team could start to visualize what the app could look like, and begin initial discussions with developers.
Final design
Therapist web app
Therapists will use the web app on computers primarily when preparing for their sessions, to review the progress of assigned client activities and prepare new activities.
They might also use it on tablet devices during sessions to review activities or set up new activities with clients.
They might also use it on tablet devices during sessions to review activities or set up new activities with clients.
The activity review dashboard was designed based therapist aims when reviewing homework
- Get a quick snapshot of client activity status - Past 7 days completion status indicator
- Monitor progress - Weekly progress chart for each activity and all activities combined
- Spot patterns, positives and negatives - Calendar view of activity completion and tracking
- Extrapolate what happened - Details of all recorded activities on a day are shown that day is selected on the calendar
Client activity review dashboard on the therapist web app
Therapists will use the Activity Library when preparing activities for their clients. Editable and reusable templates make it easier for them to create and tailor activities for individual clients.
Activity library on the therapist web app
When assigning and modifying activities, therapists and their clients can choose to set up a range of 'best practice' options to increase the likelihood of activity completion - scheduling and reminders, rewards, accountability partners and customised affirmation messages.
Details of an 'Exercise' activity assigned to the client
Once they have assigned an activity to a client, therapist can opt to receive alerts that would help them provide timely encouragement (e.g. after the client's first activity completion) or intervention (e.g. after a series of missed activities). They can also request that the client provide feedback after completing the activity for the first time.
Therapist mobile app
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The therapist mobile app was designed to help therapists provide timely support for their clients while on-the-go or away from their desks.
Alerts enable therapists to know when homework activities are completed or missed. They can provide encouragement or ask for details to troubleshoot non compliance through messages. They might also use the mobile app during sessions to set up activities together with the clients. |
Client mobile app
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The client mobile app was designed to set clients up for success when completing therapy homework activities by helping them with organisation and motivation.
Clients are able to
Affirmation messages and rewards are also displayed if they have been set up together with their therapist. Affirmation messages are shown after an activity is checked off or marked as incomplete - to remind clients of the personal goals they are working towards though each activity. Clients have the freedom to create and set up new activities for themselves if they wish to add other personal tasks. |
Reflection
A key weakness of this project is the lack of user research. In the interests of time and because of the difficulty of recruiting therapists and their clients I relied mostly on secondary research and internal feedback from Jenna (a therapist) for this project. In addition, the research that was done was also front-loaded, with time spent during the early exploratory phase but not the subsequent design or refinement phases.
The goal of the team was to develop a functional prototype ready for testing with therapists and their clients and iterate from there. However, in hindsight I believe that planning to do research this way (after development) is not the most efficient way to learn things and iterate a product.
If I could do it over again, I would:
The goal of the team was to develop a functional prototype ready for testing with therapists and their clients and iterate from there. However, in hindsight I believe that planning to do research this way (after development) is not the most efficient way to learn things and iterate a product.
If I could do it over again, I would:
- Begin by working with the team to define a UX strategy and common goals
- Spend time and resources on recruitment upfront
- Do user research with competitive products before defining the features of our own product
- Schedule in time for usability testing at the wireframing and final UI design stages