Mental Health in Healthcare Professionals

Background

According to the CDC, mental health concerns among healthcare professionals include stress, depression, burnout, anxiety, substance use disorders, and suicidal behaviors. The purpose of this problem is to prioritize the mental health challenges among health care workers and support their well-being by introducing resources that are relevant to them when needed.

Role

Quantitative Researcher

Competitive Research

UI Designer

Usability Testing

Project Scope

End-To-End

Tools

Marvel

Miro

Figma

Google Presentation

Studies Shown

According to a survey listed on the CDC,

45% of nurses reported that they were not getting enough emotional support
69% of physicians reported experiencing depression and 13% had thoughts of suicide

Why Can't We Ignore This?

“The Covid-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on health systems in most countries, and in particular, on the mental health and well-being of health workers on the frontlines of pandemic response efforts.”

We are looking to help relieve healthcare workers from feeling “burnt out” which can affect patient care adversely.

With our research, we’re hopeful to reduce the stigma of healthcare professionals seeking care and support which in turn can improve one’s quality of life and prevent further development of mental health issues.

Most importantly, a family member or friend could be affected by mental health problems and one wouldn’t even know it.

Behavioral Archetype A

General Healthcare providers ( PCP,PA,NP) who are involved in Medical care. Healthcare providers who treat common medical conditions and perform routine exams which serves in primary care.

Healthcare provider Alex Dao, 38, is a nurse practitioner working at Kaiser Hospital which consists of long hours. His role includes managing patients’ health conditions by treating injuries and illnesses, and also supporting injury and disease prevention. He feels as though there is a heavy amount of stress and anxiety at his workplace that follows him back home. This affects his relationship with his family and friends. Alex’s only mental assistance is an in-person therapist but he doesn’t have time to frequently visit. He wants to make sure that he feels supported and understood through his long process of medical care at his convenience.

Goals

Wants to find a support system. Find new ways to manage stress, anxiety, and depression. He wants to build a positive healthy relationship at home.

Thoughts

Alex doesn’t use any online services for mental help, so he gets anxious about confidentiality. He hopes to find a system that assists and eases him at his own convenience.

Needs

Needs to find online support groups. Needs to know where he can find verified and trusted resources online.

Feelings

His feelings follow him home, Which includes his family life. Constantly anxious about what can go wrong with his patients. Excited about seeking mental help.

Pain Points

Has a busy schedule. Emotional stress at work.

Actions

Plans to frequent mental health services at his own time. Signs up for notifications that keep him in touch with helpful insights and tips.

Behavioral Archetype B

At the Frontline: Healthcare professionals (MD, RN) who work in ER or urgent medical situations (suicide hotline, etc.)

Caring for a patient coming in to the hospital with mental health complaints.

A Emergency Dept Registered Nurse is caring for a patient coming into a hospital with mental health problems, and the process can be extensive and time-consuming. The nurse begins by bringing the patient to a room and figuring out the cause of their ideation and if there is a plan in place to harm themselves or others. They work with the doctors to place the patient on a “hold,” while they wait for the psychiatric evaluator to see if the patient is well enough to send to a mental health facility for further care. During that time, the patient can be very uncooperative or unpredictable, posing a danger to the staff.

The registered nurse often goes home feeling drained of energy and are beginning to feel inadequate, causing them to start to dread going into work. They are interested in finding a website or app that assists them to speak with a therapist either in person or online, but has never signed up for one before and doesn’t know what to expect or how the process works.

Goals

Wants to find a certified therapist to begin speaking with. Hopes to work out own feelings of inadequacy to stop feeling dread going to work.

Thoughts

Concerned about confidentiality with therapists over mobile apps. Would like to get daily notifications of affirmations or mental health help exercises. Would like the app to be aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate.

Needs

Needs to have a therapist that can work with their schedule. Prefers to find a therapist versed in the healthcare field so they can relate more.

Feelings

Often stressed with how much critical thinking has to be used a shift. Feels inadequate as sometimes can’t do much to help with mental health. Has a lot of unreleased anger/ frustration from work that often leaks out at friends and family.

Pain Points

Inexperienced at using these mental health help apps. Unsure what to expect or what is required on sign up. Doesn’t usually seek mental health help, has feelings of embarrassment. Has an unpredictable schedule.

Actions

Tries to do yoga or workout to deal with stress. Goes on coffee “dates” with friends/coworkers to vent frustrations. Has downloaded an app that helps with breathing exercises and staying calm.

Why

Medical professionals are on the front lines dealing with sickness and/or death daily, which takes a tremendous toll on their mental health. How much of a toll does this take and is there a way to make sure our medical professionals have the appropriate tools at their disposal when needed?

What

What journey do mental health professionals follow that build up to a mental health concern? What users feel about the current resources in place that address mental health.

What aspects can make our solution different than pre-existing solutions?

Who

A: Mental health of generral medical professionals
B: Mental health of those who work in ER or urgent medical situations.
Sample size: 23

Demographics: mainly people in healthcare fields

Recruit: Family members, friends, coworkers

How

Behavioral Archetypes
User Interviews

Mental Health Survey

Competitive Analysis Matrix

Discussion Guide

“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage.Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.”-Brené Brown

Interviews

Quantitative Research Study

About The Survey

Disseminiation

One of our team members is a healthcare professional. She asked her coworkers who work at the frontlines, our intended audiences. We disseminated the survey link to her coworkers via group message. We believed that group message channel was the most effective way to collect the data because we could approach many target samples in a single request, versus collecting each survey individually.

Other User Groups

Although Mental Health concerns can be applicable to everyone, broadening our target group may come with its advantages and disadvantages. For potential groups however, we could aim to target the patients of these healthcare professionals regardless of what they are diagnosed with ( I.e. Cancer, Arthritis, etc) since having these conditions may also have impacts on an individual’s mental health.

Even before Covid-19, healthcare professionals faced an increased toll on their mental health and often referred to this job-related stress as “burnout.”Many feel stressed and stretched out too thin with limited staffing, are emotionally and physically exhausted, and are beginning to turn to alcohol or drug use to help cope with these problems.Our team wanted to conduct this survey to see how many healthcare professionals feel burnt out, and what steps they are already taking to better their mental health to see how we can help further.

Limitations/Challenge

Not every group member had connections to a medical professional. Since we are collecting via online only, we had difficulty understanding the demographics and characters of our participants. Also, with 10 limited questions, our scope of survey was narrower than we hoped to accomplish. Some of our participants answered outside of our scope of survey hence we could not relay to our intended research. (Example answer: “I can figure it out on my own”).

Plan

First, we will have to create a separate survey that contains questions catering towards the intended audience. Second, in order to disseminate the survey, we can send out the original survey and add another survey question at the bottom which links to the patient survey so that this particular healthcare provider may be able to distribute to their patients and gain insights.

Results Summary

70.6 % Responded Medical Professionals are likely to experience mental health concerns due to the nature of their job.
47.1% Responded mental health concerns have the highest impact on emotional well-being.
6.3% Responded they were not able to recognize if they had mental health concerns.
58.85 Responded there was a need for mental health resources.
The resources that are available today are somewhat satisfactory. Users find it difficult to gain access to these resources due to affordability, time, and further develop self coping strategies. Users find their work to have a massive impact on their mental well-being and is often overlooked.

Competitive Analysis

Affinity Map

Empathy Frameworks Statement

After conducting Qualitative User Interviews and conducting a Quantitative User Survey, our group came together to synthesize our research findings through Affinity Mapping. Individually, we took out key points from each of our 8 interviews and our research survey. From there we grouped together commonalities within the surveys and commenced a dot vote session in which we narrowed our focus to the impacts of how healthcare work mentally, emotionally and physically affects medical practitioners, the key finding being stress. With this new found research, we iterated our Behavioral Archetypes to reflect our users having impacts on their Mental, Physical, and Emotional well being. We highlighted key indicators of stress through user pain points and the solutions our users were seeking.

1.

From the research on healthcare professionals’ interactions with their stigma, their poor physical conditions have significant effect on developing risk of mental health problems. Healthcare providers have difficulty practicing healthy lifestyles due to high physically demanding tasks. Regardless of their awareness, stigma regarding physical problems are often ignored due to lack of resources. The workplace should provide sufficient rest times and healthy diet support systems to healthcare professionals for their overall well-being. Avoiding staff shortages can lead to better health conditions of these professionals and enhance their work performance as well as increase the level of productivity in workplace

User Insights

2.

Early termination of mental health treatment and ineffective self-treatment are caused by different factors mainly with limited spare time due to busy working schedule and inaccessible resources. These make it difficult in providing quality care for the mental health of professionals. It is essential to tackle these problems and emphasize on the importance of finding effective strategies for stigma reduction. Implementing well trained consultants or mental therapists in the workplace can make it more accessible in promoting high peer support. The working environment should encourage practitioners to talk openly about their concerns and seek help for mental assistance. This can help professionals to find the time to take care of themselves balancing their personal mental health and their patient’s.

3.

The healthcare provider wants to receive more resources because they want to find a solution that helps them deal with the stress work causes, but they are unsure of where to start because they don’t usually seek mental health help, so they need a convenient way to find a provider or therapist that fits their schedule.

POV

Medical Professionals who work long exhausting hours in fast-paced work environments are exposed to many different situations that have a stressful impact on their mental health are in need of a solution that is effective, easily accessible, fits into their schedule, confidential and financially viable.

HMW

User A: How might we provide effective, reliable, and viable support to assist relieving stress and other mental health concerns for General Healthcare Providers in order to help them overcome the stress and pain and lead them to a healthier life, better performance at their workplace, and be a positive influence to their families and friends.

User B: How might we provide immediate and alternative solution for the physical, emotional and mental stress and pain for Frontline Healthcare Professionals in order to appropriately improve their well-being and positively affect their ability to fully serve their patients

Creative Matrix

Throughout a health care provider’s shift, they can feel a myriad of emotions depending on who they’re helping. We separated the matrix into two sections: day-to-day and 24/7 or urgent use depending on what the user needs.The day-to-day is offered to those who do not feel as though they need dire help at the moment. They are able to schedule therapy appointments and are able to view videos and participate in interactive activities.The urgent is targeting those that need dire help and their therapist isn’t available. We want to offer 24/7 help, and will include a middleman to help sort out whether to send the user to a immediate hotline or to an on-call therapist that is available.

Journey Map

Key Insights

Our target user’s goal is to find a new way to manage his stress after working long and difficult hours at work.Hopefully finding the app through advertisements or referrals, he would become interested in our private and accessible therapy service. Additionally, to build his trust and to retain customer retention, we hope to provide a navigable app that is catered to services he can utilize. For instance, beside the basic services, we can also include an interactive virtual pet and a reward-point system.With convenient service with a licensed therapist, we hope that our user is able to find success and see improvement in their mental health. If he wants to share success with friends and family, we also want to include a referral reward.

Mid-Fidelity Frames

User Testing Plan

What usability testing technique is best suited for your product?

The best suited technique for our product is Unmoderated Remote Testing since it more accurately mimics how users might would utilize the app. However, this technique is not feasible since the technique works best when there is large-sample data with a product that is mostly developed. Also, we do not get to know much about the users’ reasoning about their particular actions/choices.

Why did you choose that technique?

Thus, we chose Moderated Remote Testing. Especially due to everyone’s schedule, remote testing is the most flexible option for everyone. Also, this method allows the group to act as a facilitator that can administers extra tasks, guide participants, and record their behaviors and feedback.

What tasks would you like the user to complete in your usability test?

Access each service they are interested in exploring
Complete account set-up / questionnaire
Go back to previous screen

What metrics will you use to measure success?

If the user is able to access each service / category
If the user can complete the account set-up
If the user can flow through the app back and forth from each screen

3 Q's

Are all the buttons functional?

Yes, all the buttons are functional

Does the user have difficulty navigating through the app?

Navigating the app is very easy and user-friendly. It wasn’t over-bearing and easy on the eyes.

Do the services accurately portray their intended use?

Yes, I would use this app to help navigate my life in a better direction. What I found of interest was that this app basically sums my life well-being.

Key Metrics

If the user is able to access each service
If the user can complete account set up

If the user can flow through the app back and forth from each screen

What We Learned

We learned how the skeleton of the wireframe plays a main role in maintaining the apps structure and delivering concepts across users.

Our user mentioned that the app basically sums their life well-being, where this app is much more than just a therapy visit. But also how their physical health and their nutrition can also play a role in mental health.

Iterations

Add an example of a page from one of the articles in nutrition, physical exercises, or resources.

Make a page for the call button in the top right corner since it’s on several pages

Project Takeaways

It is easy to get lost in developing a solution for a product.
Remembering to process the process is also important.
Always keep in mind the problem to solve with each step of the UX Journey.
For the future, what changes can be made that will specify that this application is for our target user group?