After conducting interviews, I discovered that immigrants face a threefold set of challenges:
1) They experience fear stemming from language barriers.
2) They struggle with a limited understanding of the healthcare system.
3) They perceive a lack of cultural competence, adding to their concerns.
An app designed for immigrants to the USA to help them understand their symptoms and connect them with doctors they feel comfortable working with.
Enhance the user experience by enabling preference settings to find doctors based on personal comfort, ensuring a truly personalized healthcare journey.
An AI-powered chat system designed to assist users in understanding their symptoms and provide guidance towards seeking the appropriate doctor.
Through preliminary secondary research, an alarming reality emerged, highlighting the significant challenges surrounding healthcare access for immigrants and minorities. With projections indicating that minorities will comprise 50% of the US population by 2050, it is disheartening to note the persistent racial and ethnic disparities that exist within the current healthcare system.
After doing a competitive analysis, I found that most doctor/healthcare apps care more about connecting a user with any doctor as fast as possible. Allowing users to connect with doctors they feel comfortable with was not the priority.
Through five interviews with immigrants (ages 24 to 55) who relocated to the USA at different times, I aimed to understand the cultural barriers they encounter when seeking healthcare. This research helped identify the subsequent hardships they face in accessing adequate healthcare. Based on the interviews, I created an affinity map was created to visually organize and analyze the collected information.
The following were some of the key findings that shaped the rest of this project:
How might we help immigrants feel confident to seek medical treatment?
1) Farah: English-fluent professional seeking culturally competent therapist.
2) Anil: Long-term immigrant with limited English, struggles with medical conversations.
These personas provide insights into the specific needs and challenges faced by individuals like Farah and Anil when it comes to healthcare access and communication.
During the initial brainstorming phase, my primary focus was to prioritize the needs and challenges faced by immigrants. The goal was to develop a healthcare app that genuinely revolves around addressing their unique requirements and providing effective solutions to their problems.
Key Features:
1) AI Chat for Quick Diagnosis: Users can utilize an AI chat feature to receive a quick diagnoses for their health concerns.
2) Doctor Preference Settings: Users can set their preferences for doctors, enabling them to find healthcare professionals who align with their specific requirements and ensure a comfortable and personalized healthcare experience.
After finalizing the list of features, the next step was to create a sitemap to guide the information architecture of the app.
For this app, I developed three key user flows:
1) Sign up & set up of doctor preferences
2) AI chat feature
3) Scheduling a doctor appointment
Based on the user flows, I narrowed in on the flows of 'selecting a doctor' and 'booking an appointment'. I wanted to focus on these particular flows because this is the mission of my app. And I wanted to make sure there weren't any bottlenecks that might stop someone from taking the step to seek healthcare.
After the flows were created, I sketched a few screens. My goal was to create screens that are both user-friendly and visually appealing.
After I sketched the low fidelity screens, I began to digitize them. Feedback from my peers during group critiques played a crucial role in refining the designs. It helped identify areas where improvements were needed, such as spacing between elements.
Based on the diverse user base of this app, I wanted a brand to be able to connect with all user types. Being in the healthcare space, the brand had to feel dependable and trustworthy, but also familiar and friendly to stand out.
I chose blue and orange as the primary and secondary colors for this app. Blue represents trust, reliability, and calmness, creating a sense of dependability. Orange adds vibrancy, energy, and enthusiasm, making the app visually appealing and welcoming. The combination of these colors establishes the feeling of trust and friendliness in DiverseMD.
For the typography, I wanted a font with excellent readability and clean, modern design, so I went with Open Sans. With a potentially diverse user base, Open Sans ensures a consistent and user-friendly experience. Open Sans enhances the aesthetic appeal, professionalism, and seamless readability for DiverseMD.
By using the term "diverse," I wanted to emphasize inclusivity and representation, aiming to create a platform that caters to a wide range of immigrants. The "MD" signifies the medical field, establishing a clear connection to healthcare.
After I created the brand system, I applied them to the screens and connected the screens to make a prototype ready for testing.
I conducted 4 usability tests with the same participants from my user interviews. The tests were all successful, but I received a UX suggestion to delight our users even more. The suggestion involved defining medical terminology to enhance accessibility for users, particularly immigrants who may not be familiar with such terms.
I added a feature that allows users to tap on medical terminology to get explanations. This will improve usability as some users might not understand what certain symptoms mean.
Among all my projects, this one stood out with its intriguing user interviews. As someone who hasn't personally experienced the challenges faced by immigrants, listening to their stories was eye-opening and fostered empathy within me. Given more time, conducting additional user interviews with older immigrants living alone or those who don't speak English at all would be invaluable. However, locating suitable participants proved challenging within the given time constraints.
The usability tests were particularly insightful, as they were primarily conducted with immigrants. Their feedback pinpointed changes and considerations that I, as a native English speaker, may not have considered. This emphasizes the significance of testing products with real potential users to gain valuable insights.
Another challenge I encountered was attempting to address every problem within a single app. Given the app's diverse target user base, it was difficult to determine which features to include and exclude. Some features would benefit one group more than others, necessitating prioritization within the time limitations.
Furthermore, I recognize that an app may not be the ideal solution for everyone, as not everyone may be willing or able to download and use an app. Considering alternative approaches to reach and assist a wider audience may be necessary.
