8. A User’s Story
“I like that it allows me to do
things I don’t allow myself
to do.”
“...took my mind away from
any troubles...”
“Instead of yelling at my
daughter I grabbed the
ball...it’s nice to ground mysel
in something.”
-personally in recovery from an ED….have seen effects when relapse prevention either not done well or doesn’t exist
-our mission throughout
-> relapse prevention for EDs
-> something fun and that excited about b/c relapse prevention tools out there now often as rigid as ED mentality itself
Kat
-initial stressor: adapting to the spontaneity of life outside the rigid structure of treatment is difficult, and often leads to relapse
-initial POV: break the rigidity of relapse prevention plan in a way that makes user feel prepared to adapt to spontaneity of life outside treatment
-gathered from further user interviews that concept of spontaneity not as widely applicable to all ED diagnoses
-also that people who haven’t been in formal treatment don’t necessarily have a plan in the first place to break
-found something even more compelling….concept of giving self permission
-> may sound foreign, but in across all EDs mentality about self-deprication and that don’t deserve
-pinpointing this and flipping it on its head proved very powerful to our users
-new stressor: across all ind w/an ED, allowing oneself/giving self permission to do things is incredibly hard, and if don’t do this, can be road to relapse
-new POV: users need a way to give themselves permission to enjoy everyday activities in a way that doesn’t make them feel guilty
Ji
SBTM
-Once a day, turn a rigid aspect of your relapse prevention plan into something spontaneous.
-Why 1x/day?
-on the motivation vs. implementation (is that the correct other axis?) scale motivation is higher if it’s your ‘mission’ each day
-might forget about it if it’s farther apart than every day
-implementation is too hard if it’s more than 1x/day due to the nature of the tasks as well as where the users are at in phase of recovery
-3 categories:
-> food/meal plan spontaneity
-> social spontaneity
-> somatic spontaneity
Ji
-need to give examples of messages (emphasize that they are actionable) -> we iterated from 3 original groups based on feedback
Kat
Kat
Ji
-2 users in recovery
-1 therapist/clinician, who shared with other therapists and 15-20 clients
-Day 1: “I get to reach out to a friend I haven’t spoken to in a while.”
-Day 2: “I get to do one spontaneous thing that’ll make me laugh.”
-Day 3: “I get to say hello to a random stranger today.”
-Day 4: “I get to treat my body! Think: massages, pedicures, etc.”
Kat
Ji
*overall
-physical prototype
-> loved tactile features, although yarn kept coming apart so wanted it to be more durable
->
User 1
-multiple therapists/clinicians + about 15-20 clients in recovery
-not one of the clients didn’t comment about how much they liked the tactile features (all were constantly playing with the ball)
-all also commented that screen too small (text hard to read)
-really like that the messages are actionable vs. just an inspirational quote that often fails to motivate clients to move forward in recovery
-> kept comparing it to Recovery Record (app that tracks clients progress, but doesn’t have a feature to encourage action, so they really liked this)
-clinicians especially liked that couldn’t skip messages b/c encourages pushing clients slightly out of their comfort zone in a healthy way
-clinicians want the ability to track whether their clients are completing the daily prompts (not sure if we need to mention this?)
User 2 ***can mention quantitative data here***
-(she couldn’t find her charger so she only got messages on 2 of the days, and didn’t do them b/c the wording didn’t speak to her)
-Messages didn’t speak to her
-Didn’t like the phrase “I get to,” suggested changing it to “I deserve to~”/ “I’m worthy enough to” watch the sunset -> we need to personalize based on different stages of recovery
-Felt little uncomfortable carrying around, afraid someone would ask what it is
-Start with simple things, speak straightforward, otherwise felt like another task on top of her regular work
-> even just something like 5 minutes out of her day to take time for herself
-said she would wait for a new message to come (good!!)
-> wanted one in the morning and the evening (needs to be personalized b/c some people get triggered at certain times of the day, and if they can have a message/outside stimulus at that time it will really help
- “I think this will really help people” “There’s nothing else like it out there”
User 3 ***can mention quantitative data here*** (I’m going to say a lot of this in user’s story...so I can cut some later)
-carried the ball on all 4 days and completed all 4 messages
-carried a bigger purse just because she wanted to have the ball with her
-loved that it allowed her to do things she wouldn’t normally do (i.e. get a pedicure, etc.) b/c she feels she doesn’t deserve to do things for herself
-> could do these things without feeling guilty
-liked that it didn’t have any food-related messages so she could still follow her meal plan
-squeezed it in moments when she felt she was losing control (b/c EDs are all about control), but b/c of the physical prototype she was afraid it might fall apart
-> something physical to focus on
- “It’s something physical you can grab for...I punch pillows, but you can’t do that in public!”
-also said screen to small
-would like to have option to skip just 1-2 times
-> in case prompt requires more time than she has but still wants to do one
- “I see it [the loss of control/ED bxs] in my daughter...this would be great for teens”
-also really likes keychain/pillow ideas
Kat
-having something outside the self that can give you permission to do things you wouldn’t otherwise do is key in ED recovery
-something physical that can double as a stress release when feeling out of control
-key = outside the self b/c don’t yet have permission/control to do it themselves
-concept of someone else holding recovery for you in early stages
Kat
1) Larger, longer trial w/more participants
-to see if really is effective in improving outcomes in recovery
-see if still see same general feedback
2) Personalization
-some want different wording on messages
-some get triggered during certain parts of the day and want a message during that time...ability to set that
3) Size
-smaller so it can fit inconspicuously in a purse
-so people don’t ask questions
4) Functionality
-pillow w/a new message every morning when you wake up
-eliminates concerns about other people knowing if aren’t yet ‘out’
