Services Building research strategy, Recruitment, Preliminary & Field research, Interviews, Observations, User journey, Personas, Extracting insights, UX, Prototypes, User Testing
Year 2023
Application software for cancer patients. Today, there are some of the most advanced drug treatments on the market, if so, their effectiveness is impaired due to stress and anxiety situations that cause the immune system to weaken. In order to strengthen the immune system and maximize the results of the medical treatment, we created an App that provides access to psychobiological practices that have been scientifically proven to improve the mental state and consequently the physical state.
My task was to lead the research process, together with Noam Livnat and Michal Agur, in order to translate an initial medical protocol which includes psychobiological practices into an App that would provide physical and emotional resilience to cancer patients during and between the medical treatments.
This research and characterization serves as a solid foundation for further R&D for Remepy, which recently raised $15 million.
The Process | UX Research
1. Defining the challenge
The first step, along with the research goals we set at the beginning
2. Defining the work plan
I gave an estimation of the schedules and reflected it to the team in order to coordinate expectations. Due to business matters the process was accelerated so after ~5 months the of research and development, the app was released for clinical trial.
3. Gathering information
Preliminary research
We consulted with expert doctors, nurses, oncology coordinators, and research coordinators. Additionally, we attended a Designit conference focused on user experience and the human aspect of digitization in medicine. This conference shed light on the subject matter we are addressing
Desk research
Based on reading articles and studies on relevant topics that we identified as significant, such as cancer, support circles, the connection between the body and mind in the context of strengthening the immune system, loneliness, gerontology, digital literacy with an emphasis on age-tech, accessibility, benchmarks, Gamification & Rewards and more.
Field research
Recruitment interviewees
Applying to old people’s sheltered housing and clubs for the elderly, various associations and communities, post on Facebook and WhatsApp, which is where most of the significant connections for further interviews came from.
KPI > Questionnaires > interviews
At the same time as recruiting the interviewees, I worked on the KPI document and built questionnaires based on the research done so far.
The interview was at the patient’s house and consisted of 2 parts (all together 1.5 hour):
Introductory and disease aspects: Emotional, physical and bureaucratic.
Digital literacy and Accessibility: The way in which the target audience would be able to consume information in the motor, cognitive and emotional aspects.
It was very significant to be in the house of the interviewees, through the objects in the house it was possible to learn about them much more than words and in addition, it was a good way to talk about family, friends and hobbies, which helped to talk about the disease in a more sensitive way.
Downloading
At the end of each interview, we sat down and compiled a document in which we wrote everything said by the interviewee. (Based on memory, points we wrote down during the interview and audio recording, if we got permission). Then, I marked the essential things that were repeated, crossed them out and identified trends that are worth considering
4. Research analysis
After extracting insights based on the interviews, the preliminary research and the field research, I presented the findings to the company, which include customer journey, personas and insights.
User journey
Before presenting the insights, I presented the customer journey that presents the medical and emotional process of the patients and indicated the places where Remepy can and should intervene in order to improve the user experience while using the app.
Personas
Along with the insights, we characterized 4 key personas in order to understand our target audience more accurately and to make sure that our solutions will be suitable for different types and experiences
Insights
By identifying the things that were repeated on the part of the contestants, on the part of the experts and the medical team, together with the important information from the studies and articles, we extract insights that in the future will become features and services.
The insights address two main issues:
How to Adapt the medical protocol to the customer’s journey?
How to maintain a high level of engagement over time?
The Process | Product Design
General architecture | Flow and navigation
Together with the product team, we conducted a brainstorming session in which we visually brought up the insights from the research that could give us a stable and correct structure for the App.
I stayed in weekly contact with the interviewees and send them screenshots via WhatsApp in order to received ongoing feedback.
Usability testing | 6 Users
Before we continued to develop the activities, I conducted usability testing with 6 users in their homes through a Figma prototype. We wan. The main KPIs were understanding the essence of the application, orientation and accessibility.
The results were highly satisfactory, allowing us to confidently proceed to the phase of characterizing the activities, testing them, and ultimately handing them over to development
This research and characterization serves as a solid foundation for further research and development for Remepy, which recently launches with $15 Million in Funding To Bring First Hybrid Drug To Market
