Sanchia Jogessar
Customer experience / user experience
The mental health app
Mental health | Health UX | Ethics | 30 UX Challenge
The objective for the challenge was to create a mental health app for adolescents. The app should offer resources and support for common mental health concerns, and connect users with certified mental health practitioners.
My concept placed a strong emphasis on ethics and child protection for adolescents, acknowledging their vulnerability during identity development. Using a warm and non-punitive tone, it avoids quantitative self-assessment, instead prioritising emotional engagement to promote sustained mental well-being.
​
The Protection of Personal Information (“POPI”) Act, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) played a critical role in the concept design.
There were three main points that guided my design in gamification within a mental health app. ​​
-
The user should not become addicted to the app.
-
The user should feel a sense of eustress when using the app.
-
The user should feel that they are on a journey towards self improvement continuously learning about themselves.
Since the users are a vulnerable age group, and certified mental health professional need to be reimbursed for their services, the target audience has been split into:
-
users (Adolescents) and,
-
buyers (Parents/guardians/schools).
In the initial concept the users and the buyers in my target audience are familiar and comfortable with the topic of mental health.
​
Health care professionals (HCP) are also considered users since they are part of the system. The project did not focus on creating an interface for practitioners, and it was assumed that the solution integrates with the HCP's interface of choice.
_edited.png)
Due to the time constraints within this challenge I interviewed a friend and her 14 year old daughter. More users should be interviewed for a holistic perspective.
​
I followed qualitative norms like coding and themes to assess the data around perception on mental health and health apps.
​
The interview raised concerning issues of teen suicide and cultural beliefs. While it was easier to make an app for a group that was familiar with mental health, the challenge lay with addressing a group of people who did not inherently believe in mental health. This meant I had to redesign several areas within the UX.
Research insights
-
Cultural and religious beliefs play a large role in mental health perception
-
Parents/guardians/authority figures play a significant role in mental health awareness, it’s significance and treatment.
-
Mental health conditions are viewed as attention seeking and a sign of weakness.
-
Teen suicide is often attributed to cultural beliefs.
-
South African adolescents within my community need an avenue to express their emotions.
-
There is not enough information and awareness on mental health that break incorrect perceptions.
Modifications to UX
Target audience: Buyers
My initial assumption that the buyer group would be open to mental health was incorrect. I had to redesign the UX to empathise with a demographic who did not view mental health in a positive light.
Demographic traits
South Africa is a melting pot of cultures; the buyer persona was created based on behavioural traits as opposed to demographics. These traits carry across race, ethnicity and cultural groups.
​
-
This segment of the target audience is motivated by significance, power and intellect. They tend to ask themselves: “Do others view me as significant and making an impact?” They are bread winners in households and/or earn a higher income in the household and, often hold decision making power.
-
They are highly independent, and do not like to ask for assistance. They view emotions and emotional outbursts as weak or as a character flaw.
-
These users tend to lack empathy and victim blame. They will often critique poor performance as a sign of personal incompetence rather than consider contributing external factors. They place high value on cultural and religious beliefs.
Name change
The research results showed that core buyer demographic may not respond positively to “Safe-space” as the name for a mental health app. While this name would have resonated with the initial buyer group, it would have little impact on the new set of buyers
More information
I renamed the app to “Shosholoza”. “Shosholoza” is an Nguni song that was sung by the mixed tribes of miners mining gold in South Africa. It is a mix of Zulu and Ndebele words and can have various other Southern African languages thrown in depending on the singers. It was sung by workers that were working in the South African mines in a call and response style.
​
Adolescence is a confusing space to navigate especially where mental health is concerned. Shosholoza represents the teamwork, multidisciplinary approach and communication required to create the correct foundations for sound mental health.
UI Attributes
The UI attributes had to change to reflect: togetherness and significance. The tone and message had to reflect that the user is a better person by acknowledging mental health. The challenge with this UX means crossing the barrier with a user who inherently does not believe in mental health.
The Shosholoza website attempts to break that barrier by questioning the legacy that the buyer will leave behind. The colours need to reflect strength, and warmth, and cultural familiarity. Greens, blues and pastels will not be as impactful.
User Flow
I edited the user flow to include the journaling aspect as the core feature, with supplemental support from mental health practitioners.
I removed the streak feature because it can cause the user to feel demotivated.
Design
Web design: Landing page
The UX for the landing page has three purposes:
-
Highlight the problem of teen suicide.
-
Identify the buyer as the leader and protector of their family.
-
Use the concept of legacy to initiate conversations.
The image of the lion represents family, leadership, strength and power. I highlighted the gold tones on the image of the lion and on the app splash screen as it represents status within the targeted communities
Security and privacy
These screens represent the relationship between the user, the buyer and the healthcare practitioner. ​
​
The buyer registers the user on the platform using their South African medical aid details.
​
Health care professionals are associated within the medical aid network. This ensures that health care professionals are certified with the Health Professionals Council of South Africa and adhere to their regulations on data sharing, privacy, and informed consent.
​
These screens also prevent fraudulent use of the app.
App design
The home screen UX aims to provide a “companion in your pocket” rather than a game that the user plays to win.
It’s important to keep the relationship between practitioner and patient professional, especially where mental health is involved.
The communication avenues between patient and practitioner on Shosholoza app has been designed to protect the patient/practitioner relationship.
