UX in Healthcare Tech: Humanistic Design to Motivate User Behavior

UX Healthcare in Tech: Prediabetes In-depth Interviews
Aimee Richardson | Lead User Experience Researcher
9/26/2016

UX in Healthcare: Prediabetes
Goals of the Study:
• Discover the patient’s (i.e. user)
experience post diagnosis – their
thoughts, feelings and emotions
around being prediabetic
• Identify what motivates them to
make lifestyle changes and what
tools and/or resources help them
make these changes
• Determine if the Prediabetes
website was instrumental in
helping them learn more and
make changes
• Identify where we could better
fulfill the patient’s content needs

How we did it using 3 different methodologies:
• In-person interviews – good for gaining a better understanding of a person’s
goals, needs, mindset and behaviors
• Task-based usability study using the think-aloud protocol – good for uncovering
functional issues and the fundamental value to the user
• Desirability List (Adjective test) – good to use in conjunction with collecting
quantitative data because it can elicit more honest responses
• We also collected Satisfaction ratings using 0-10 scale
Age Range 27 to 63
Gender 3 female 2 male
Timeframe of
diagnosis
2 within last few
weeks
3 for last several
years
Ethnicity 3 African-American 2 Caucasian
Socio-economics 2 High-income 1 Middle-income 2 Low-income

How can we meet the needs of both types of users?
Robin* – 27 year old, African-American, female
• very busy with work, school, and a 4 year old son
• diagnosed since she was 10 years old
• has developed many strategies to keep prediabetes under control
Raymond* – 63 year old, Caucasian, male
• stressful job running his own business
• diagnosed about 6 weeks ago
• overwhelmed with his diagnosis and all the perceived changes he’ll have
to make
*Names have been changed to protect PHI

Provide direction and guidance
• Their healthcare provider is a trusted
source for users according to their self
reports
• Users said there is a lot of incorrect
information in the community about
what is healthy (e.g. juicing, gluten-
free)
• Users want to look to their healthcare
provider as a credible source of medical
information for Prediabetes
User quote:
“It’s a place to learn. I want facts from doctors,
not questionable information from the
community.” – P1

Make the goals specific and attainable
“I hear this all the time. There’s nothing here
that would motivate me or make me stay on the
site.” – P5
• Patients want to know what they can
do right now to make a difference with
small, actionable steps
• Those who’ve had the diagnosis for a
while wanted to develop more refined
meal plans
• (i.e. alternatives/substitutions)
• Users also wanted to be reassured that
they would be okay if they continued to
make small changes
User quotes:
“I was glad to find out that the situation is not
as permanent as I thought it was.” – P2
Specific – Two 15-minute walks
Not specific enough – Eat Healthy

Provide motivation and support
• Users wanted the website to feel
supportive and motivational and
suggested that the patient testimonials
could do this
• They wanted the abstracts for the
testimonials to be realistic, not
idealistic
• They also wanted the testimonials to
provide them with tips and successful
strategies others had used
• Most users wanted to connect online
with each other or through hearing
other’s stories, but not in person
User quote:
“I’m not into groups, but I like hearing other’s stories.” –
P5
Too idealistic
Didn’t want to connect in person
because of time commitment
More realistic user quote:
“I used to skip breakfast and lunch, and then eat
too much at dinnertime. Now I eat every 3 to 4
hours-- breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

Help create a sustainable meal plan
• Users wanted help making small tweaks
to their current diet instead of a major
overhaul
• Their philosophy was that changing
everything about their diet at once
would set them up for failure
• They wanted specific substitutions and
alternatives for things they liked to eat
• Overall, making changes to their diet
was perceived as not fun
User quote:
“When a person makes dramatic changes, they
don’t maintain them. I’m not going to be
perfect...Most of us know what we should do, it
doesn’t really help.” – P5

Raise awareness around stress management
• Users were interested in learning more
about the connection between stress
and its impact on their condition
• Some realized it was more difficult to
avoid unhealthy snacks and weight gain
when stressed with work or family
• Making information about stress more
available could educate them on the
association between stress and
prediabetes
User quote:
“You need a reminder that you don’t have to put
food in your mouth just because you’re
stressed.” – P3

Additional points of interest:
• The main way we can add value to the
website is by adding content users are
asking for.
• The overall satisfaction rating was
6.5/10 indicating there is room for
improvement.
• The current tools provided in the
“Track” section would not be used by
most (4/5) users.
• Users did not struggle to use the
website, but said it was easy to use and
helpful.
User quotes:
“It’s just a graph… I don’t see the value
in just have the exercise tracker graph
your numbers.”
“Easy, very simply laid out, not a lot of
options under each tab, not too busy. It
flowed pretty well.” – P5
Word cloud from Adjective Test

Additional points of interest:
• The organization of the content could
be more in line with what users want.
First, they wanted to quickly know more
about what Prediabetes is and what
they can do now.
• Most (4/5) users said they did not learn
anything new from the website they
didn’t already know. However, their
desire to learn was high (6.2/7).
• Most (4/5) had difficulty identifying that
the primary change they could make to
impact their Prediabetes, is to lose
weight. Some thought diet was most
important and others thought it was
exercise.
User quotes:
“I would do “on your own” at first
because it's twelve minutes long
whereas the other options are 2 hours. “
– P3
“I would like to see the video first. It
would be more welcoming.” – P5
“On Your Own” video from the Learn tab

UX in Healthcare Tech: Humanistic Design to Motivate User Behavior

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