Heal the Healer

A web app design to support mental health for medical professionals

TEAM

3 UX Designer

duration

2.5 Weeks

ROLE

UX Designer

Screener survey, user interview, competitor analysis, wireframing, style guide, testing & feedback, UI iterations

Problem

Medical professionals need to a solution to attend to their mental well-being and receive support without repercussion caused by the mental health stigma in the medical field.

Background & Goals

Did you know depression, anxiety, burnout and suicide occur at higher rates in the medical profession? However, due to the stigma of mental health issues in the medical field, medical professionals face additional barriers in addressing their mental wellbeing needs.

The goal of this project is to create a web application to support Doctors Under the Radar, an organization which is committed to improve mental health of medical professionals and eliminate stigmas in the workplace.

Research

To ensure a deep understanding on the type of challenges and mental well-being needs of medical professionals, we conducted interviews with 15 individuals, including:

I performed a competitor analysis on popular mental health applications and an education resource forum for medical students called Student Doctor Network (based on an interviewee’s suggestion) to understand the available solutions.

Key takeaways from our interviews and competitor analysis that help shape the design direction.

No mental health app caters specifically to medical professionals.

Popular applications such as Better Help (online therapy) and Headspace (guided meditation) do a good job at meeting the broad user needs. However, the fact that many users seek advice on mental health topics on Student Doctor Network suggests strong interest on discussing mental health within the medical community.

Trust and empathy are crucial for opening up.

All participants feel comfortable sharing their well-being struggles with someone, but this person has to be trust-worthy and empathetic, preferably understanding the specific challenges for medical professionals.

Privacy and anonymity enable vulnerability.

There are general concerns around sharing mental well-being struggles with colleagues due to a variety of reasons: unhealthy work culture, potential backlash, and appearing as incompetent. Most participants prefer discussing mental-wellbeing issues in a private setting (e.g., 1:1 meeting). However, they are open to share in a bigger, more public forum if it is anonymous.

Suppressing emotions during workdays to maintain productivity.

Participants manage their mental well-being through various methods. Yet, when faced with difficult experiences at work, they choose to push through the work day without processing their feelings.

“In the surgical field, everyone is expected to be tough and work hard. You don’t want to appear as you are complaining.”

- Surgeon

“In the surgical field, everyone is expected to be tough and work hard. You don’t want to appear as you are complaining.”

- Surgeon

“In the surgical field, everyone is expected to be tough and work hard. You don’t want to appear as you are complaining.”

- Surgeon

Design Vision

How might we bridge the gaps between existing solutions and the unique mental well-being needs of medical professionals?

Based on our research, medical professionals need catered solution for their mental-welling due to the distinct challenges they face:

  • Demanding nature of medical work with long hours, intense workload, and low tolerance for mistakes

  • Emotional exhaustion from constantly handling high-stress and even life-and-death situations

  • Compounded mental-health stigma - As caregivers, they often feel pressure to appear resilient, leading to their own struggles being overload or perceived as weakness

To address these gaps, we envisioned a solution that offers:

  1. A safe, trusted space to express thoughts and feelings

  2. Peer support from other medical professionals who understand their unique challenges

  3. Opportunities to engage with the broader community on mental health conversations and reduce stigma

  4. Curated resources designed specifically for the medical community

We named this web app "MedSpace", a dedicated platform built to support the mental well-being of those who care for others.

Site Map & User Flow

I created a sitemap to outline the high-level information architecture, focusing on 4 key features:

  • Communities: Medical professionals can explore and join different groups. Within each community, they can posts and comment. 

  • BreakRoom: Messages and live chats that mimic the real-life break room where medical professionals can chat with fellow practitioners.

  • MedTalk: TedTalk-quality videos exclusive on MedSpace. Experts talk about all things related to mental wellbeing for medical professionals.

  • Resources: Curated content and resources for medical professionals.

MedSpace Sitemap

I created user flows to outline how users will compete these 3 actions: sign up, join a community, and message other users.

Style Guide

We chose the colors and typography based on research on color theory and accessibility.

We used blue to invoke the feeling of calm and used orange as highlights to sprinkle moments of positivity and energy.

Since medical professionals prefer to be anonymous to feel safe online, instead of using real names and photos, they can create a user name and choose an avatar to represent themselves. The cartoon avatar also serves as a tool to make MedSpace more personable and friendly.

Iteration & Testing

I first tested the low-fidelity wireframes with two medical professionals to make sure the general concept, features and layout makes sense to users.

Clarify features during onboarding

Add grouping for more relevant communities

Refine UI elements for messaging

Draw attention to Call to Action

After we created the high-fidelity prototype, I facilitated a usability test in Figma to collect feedback from a medical professional. The user was able to navigate MedSpace and understood how to use the features. I identified a few improvement areas to update in the future:

  1. Consider adding an "About Us" section to explain the mission and values of the platform

  2. Add more options for mental well-being issues during profile setup

  3. Add "Location" as another category for users to find relevant communities

Wireframes

Outcome & Impact

We designed a clickable prototype, and tested with potential users within 2.5 weeks.

“I would use this web app if it exists! I love that it's simple and straight to the point!"


- Physician Assistant

Reflection

What went well:

  • Khayla, Julia and I leveraged each other’s strengths and collaborated effectively. We provided each other constructive feedback and built upon each other’s work.

  • We made research-based design decisions with the obsession of providing the best possible experience for medical professionals.

What I learnt:

  • Asking good questions is difficult! I realized some of our interview questions were overly focused on our hypothesis, potentially introducing bias. Moving forward, I will continue to work on designing user interviews that yield valuable insights centered around the problem we aim to solve, while maintaining a holistic understanding of our users.

  • Take time to prioritize the type of device with which to start the product design. While we jumped into developing a web app solution due to the project requirement, in retrospect, we could have considered starting with the mobile version to cater to busy medical professionals who may prefer the on-the-go accessibility.