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Interview with Carina de López, eye square Case-Study MindDoc – How the usability of the mental health app can be optimised with UX
Interview with Carina de López, eye square
Case-Study MindDoc – How the usability of the mental health app can be optimised with UX
Mental Health - a topic that has increasingly come into focus with the trend towards mindfulness in recent years and forms the core of the MindDoc app. Together with MindDoc, the research agency eye square conducted a study on the use of mental health apps. How was the project approached, what challenges does such a sensitive topic bring with it? And how is the app for online therapies accepted?
At this year's Week of Market Research, you will be presenting the results of your joint study with MindDoc, the Mental Health App. What were the challenges of the project?
Carina de López: The heterogenous target group was undoubtedly a challenge. We wanted to survey all users, both those who had just installed MindDoc as a trial version and those who had used the app for a while and were more familiar with it.
Furthermore, we wanted to understand the motivation for using a very personal offer in a real-world context. This is the point at which the traditional interview reaches its methodological limits.
What exactly was the objective of this UX project?
Carina de López: We wanted to find out what the user experience of the app is like, from download to onboarding and daily use, to the end result, the final diagnosis.
How did you approach the subjects in order to elicit their opinions and concerns?
Carina de López: We used a "multi-method approach" for this study: we placed a quantitative questionnaire in the app and used it to access real users. We recruited participants for the two qualitative modules, the user experience test and the diary study with in-depth interviews, through our long-term partner Schlesinger, inviting people who were unfamiliar with the app but were open to the topic of mental health and liked to use apps frequently.
As a result, we used an online questionnaire to conduct a scaled survey of current users. We interviewed potential users about their motivations for using the app, accompanied them in a diary study, and watched over their shoulders during app installation and the first steps as part of a user experience test.
Mind Doc is the platform where client-therapist communication takes place. Where does the topic of UX end in this project? Does it extend into the client-therapist dyad?
Carina de López: When the touchpoint changes, i.e. when the client receives the final diagnosis in the app and contacts a therapist, the topic of UX comes to an end. MindDoc is then no longer represented with digital services, and in the event of subsequent external therapy, MindDoc has no influence. However, video therapy can still be booked directly through MindDoc. As a result, the digital product's user experience would shift to another MindDoc touchpoint, namely the therapist.
From a data protection point of view, it can easily happen that the sample is distorted, especially with a topic like mental health, because not all of the people interviewed want to give their opinion. How was this dealt with?
Carina de López: Trust is a critical issue, especially when it comes to this special category of personal data. For us, it is critical not only to provide users with a sense of security, but also to communicate as clearly as possible our data protection efforts, including server location and data protection rights. The ability to use the app completely anonymously, without creating a user account, is an excellent option for users who want to test it out first.
How is it possible to overcome the hurdle associated with the topic of mental health and turn potential users into actual users?
Carina de López: By de-tabooing the subject of mental health and making it an everyday topic- MindDoc magazine is a good example of this. In recent years, there has also been a trend toward mindfulness, which has naturally played into MindDoc's hands. Mental health is no longer seen as something stressful and mentally demanding, but rather as a topic that can be dealt with in greater depth and time can be taken to reflect on one's own emotions - in other words, a little "me-time".
With a good mix of reflective questions, exciting content that people can identify with, and engaging notifications, the app manages to turn the topic of mental health into something quite commonplace once users have downloaded it. Of course, this does not always imply that engaging with your emotional state is comforting. In our study, we discovered that people found it mood lowering to use the app on a daily basis. But that's a part of it, and it's not a reason to stop using it.
Who can particularly benefit from the results and experiences of this study? Who should not miss your event?
Carina de López: Everyone who develops, supports and markets digital products in companies, i.e. product managers, designers, developers and marketing managers.
Furthermore, of course, all those who are interested in methods, i.e. market researchers, whether from the institute or in-house.
And finally, anyone who, like our study participants, is also interested in the topics of mental health and mindfulness and would describe themselves as digitally affine.
ABOUT
Carina de López has been part of the User Experience unit at eye square since 2007 and has been its Unit Lead since 2010. She holds a Diploma in Sociology with a focus on methods and media sociology. She is specialized in qualitative methods, emotion tracking, personas and iterative User Experience consulting during product development.
Interview published in German on marktforschung.de
