Take a look: App Demonstration
We believe that dementia caregivers are everyday superheroes. With a trusty Siidekick to remind them to take time for themselves and engage in positive behaviours, we can ensure that caregivers are taken care of, too. Video created by Paige Gilbank. |
Background:
Dementia is a syndrome characterized by progressive cognitive and functional impairment. As the disease progresses, people living with dementia require assistance with activities of daily living, like toileting, bathing, and eating. This results in significant impact on loved ones who assume the responsibility of caregiving. Dementia caregivers experience considerable burden. In an effort to keep up with demands, caregivers often ignore their own needs. Yet, the literature indicates that caregiver stress can lead to increased risk of illness, burnout, and premature death. Recognizing that dementia caregivers are every day superheroes, we created Siidekick: an app that is sensitive to the demands of dementia caregiving and facilitates self-care and healthy habits. Sector: Healthcare. Operating platform: iOS and Android. Vertical Divider
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My role:
I developed a deep understanding of our end-user's need, co-created a user persona, and assumed her perspective at every step of the design process. I conducted a significant portion of the secondary and primary research, key informant interviews, and usability testing. I contributed cognitively to all the artifacts central to the design thinking process. Finally, I was responsible for graphic editing and presenting during playback sessions. Skills developed: Teamwork; negotiation; communication; organization; pitching; needs statement generation; to-be and as-is scenario frameworks; hills statement generation; paper prototyping & storyboarding; medium-fidelity prototyping on Figma; heuristic evaluation; usability testing. Context: This app prototype was created as part of a course called Fundamentals of User Experience Design at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Information. The theme of the course project followed that of the CHI 2019 Student Design Competition: weaving the threads of the social fabric. I worked with three other graduate students throughout the project: Manali Desai, Paige Gilbank, and Sneha Parekh. |
Understanding.
Secondary ResearchDementia caregivers have an experience unique from the general public. We searched academic literature via PubMed and Google Scholar to ascertain documented challenges and consequences faced by dementia caregivers.
Parallel review of the white and grey literature revealed the existing available resources available for our end-user population. Finally, I remarked expressions by and natural interactions between dementia caregivers through observation of online platforms like Facebook groups, Twitter, and Reddit. What I learned: Academic literature is useful to build support for your case. Grey literature overcomes the publication delay and provides a better snapshot of the current state. |
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Primary ResearchResults from secondary research informed our understanding of the current state. To further elucidate the needs and desires of our end-users, I co-created a survey, which featured questions that were both general (to validate our understanding to date) and specific (to determine what type of solution would be most impactful) in nature.
I distributed the survey over Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit, and received 32 responses in just one week. Finally, I co-conducted an hour-long semi-structured interview with a dementia caregiver and advocate, which produced rich insight. What I learned: The best way to learn the needs of your end-user is to talk to them directly. Embedding yourself into natural channels of communication is a great, non-intrusive way to do so. |
DefiningDrawing on our research and evidence from the literature, I created a persona: Carol. My team and I collaboratively articulated her as-is state and identified her paint points.
What I learned: A persona helps to re-orient in moments of overwhelm, when going down a rabbit-hole of ideation, or when solution-jumping. It also helps external folks to get on board with the project. |
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Ideating.
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The Good, the Bad, and the AbsurdWe employed several brainstorming techniques, including one of my favourite exercises wherein you ideate intentionally awful, unfeasible, sometimes immoral solutions, and reframe them. It often results in non-obvious ideas.
As an advocate of inclusive and participatory design, I coordinated a co-creation session during which the team brainstormed with two informal caregivers and a person living with dementia. Following prioritization based on impact and feasibility, we generated hills statements and envisioned Carol's future following the introduction of our solution. What I learned: Co-creation sessions with end-user representatives immediately illuminate limitations and strengths of possible solutions. Additionally, assessing impact and feasibility for each potential solution is subjective; mutually-created operational definitions will avoid internal discrepancies. |
Prototyping.
From Paper to FigmaWith the help of my colleague's drawing skills, the team collaboratively created a paper mock-up of our concept, now known as Siidekick. We knew that we wanted to focus on shifting the perspective of end-users from feeling overwhelmed and as if they are not doing enough to feeling confident and hopeful; seeing themselves as superheroes. Testing with five users informed the creation of our medium fidelity prototype on Figma.
What I learned: Successful usability testing on a paper prototype requires imagination from the user. As a facilitator, appropriate priming and explanations are required. |
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Testing & Iterating.
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Usability Testing, Heuristic EvaluationWith a clickable medium fidelity prototype, a colleague and I conducted in-person usability testing with six typical users, who were recruited via convenience sampling and contacted over email. We yielded information via observation during the test cases, a semi-structured interview post-test, and a short survey.
What I learned: Our users focused on minute details that would be more pertinent in the development phase. Additionally, many suggestions of modifications fell outside of the mandate of our app. Thorough priming, explanations, and open dialogue can help to draw out information that is more conceptually broad. |
On to versions 3, 4, and 5...We incorporated the majority of our users' suggestions, but we were limited in our time and technological capacity. Future iterations will require consultation with experts such as software developers, as well as further user testing.
Overall, Siidekick received positive reviews. Ultimately, we believe the app has the potential to be used by informal dementia caregivers on a regular basis. |
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The number of people living with dementia is expected to double by 2030. In light of national and provincial aging-in-place initiatives, we must provide caregivers with as many resources as possible. I am proud to have assisted in creating one such resource.