Over the past year, we partnered with a digital health company to develop a remote patient monitoring platform that could help older adults age in place. As part of our engagement, we conducted a series of design research studies to help us better understand the needs, pains, and context of older adults. The result of this UX design for seniors study helped inform the product’s design, development, and strategy. During an iterative process, from defining the MVP to launching the pilot, we learned valuable lessons worth sharing with other healthcare UX designers.
What is a design research study?
Design research studies help us learn how innovations and new approaches affect behavior and learning among target users. These studies provide a systematic approach to learning and provide users with realistic contexts so we can observe user behavior and gain insights that help inform the design process.
In developing research studies this past year for our client, CommuniCare Health, we had two overarching goals: to understand user context and to validate the product.
Who are our users, and what are they trying to do?
Understanding user context is key to developing a product that users love. To create an exceptional user experience, we needed to know the following:
- Understand what motivations, activities, and problems our users currently face
- Identify how users currently solve their problems
- Validate our audience’s process and decision-making regarding a move to independent living versus aging at home
- Recognize what technology our users currently use as an aid to their health needs
- Describe the pains and gains of the technology they currently use
- Describe the relationship between caregivers and seniors
Does the product we’ve designed help our target users address specific needs?
Failure to understand customer needs is one of the leading reasons for customer churn. In design research, it’s important to validate the product and prove that it can meet the needs of its users. To validate the product, we had to:
- Collect a mix of qualitative and quantitative data for future iterations and the next phase of product design and development
- Observe first impressions and reactions
- Test usability of the product, if the interface is intuitive, how users interact with the product, and its general accessibility
- Validate usage of the product in real time
- Measure engagement, gains, pains, future needs, and motivations
Design study methodology
Research methodology varies depending on what we want to learn and what’s available to us. For this particular study, we focused on four methodologies. Select any of the methodologies below for a summary of learnings and tips, or jump ahead for a deep dive into our whole process.
Our study consisted of three phases incorporating four methodologies. The graphic below shows the timeline and how we applied these methodologies in our user research and design for older adults.
Related Topics
- Healthcare Interoperability Solutions — Connecting disparate systems with HL7, FHIR, and bidirectional data exchange.
- Api Integration Development/Index — How we built NeverAlone — a virtual care platform serving 7 states.
- NeverAlone — Virtual care assistants that support patients between visits.
Production EHR integrations with PointClickCare, Epic, and more
We build production integrations with PointClickCare, Epic, Elation, and other major EHR platforms using HL7, FHIR, and proprietary APIs.
Start a Conversation
