How might we help people suffering from alcohol abuse disorder and social anxiety achieve their sobriety goal?
How might we help people suffering from alcohol abuse disorder and social anxiety achieve their sobriety goal?
How might we help people suffering from alcohol abuse disorder and social anxiety achieve their sobriety goal?
In a Snapshot
In a Snapshot
In a Snapshot
The problem
Alcohol abuse disorder causes detrimental health and social consequences for the drinker, the people around the drinker, and society at large, as well as the patterns of drinking that are associated with increased risk of adverse health outcomes. While the effectiveness of the employment of group therapies has been largely demonstrated, this also constitutes a strong limitation for all those subjects who suffer from social anxiety.
Furthermore, in the last few years, there’s been a growing interest and preference toward the self-management and self-monitoring of mental health through a smartphone.
The solution
A mobile app that allows following a gamified cognitive behavioral therapy, that addresses anxiety and low mood, without losing the (virtual) social component that is key to the therapy's success.
The process
Virtual
Ethnography
Interviews
Focus group
Ideation
Workshop
Understand
In order to find out and discover the scope of the issues we conducted secondary research on alcohol abuse disorder, its connection to social anxiety and mobile apps..
Over half of the population in the United States owns a smartphone and 83% of these users do not leave their homes without it. [1]
The demand for MHapps is strong, as evidenced by a recent public survey that found that 76% of 525 respondents would be interested in using their mobile phones for self-management and self-monitoring of mental health if the service were free. [2]
Individuals with social anxiety have difficulty participating in group settings. Although it makes intuitive sense that social anxiety could present a challenge in an addiction treatment setting, which often involves small groups and encouraged to participate in self-help groups like Alcoholics Anonymous. [3]
Social anxiety and alcohol addiction are especially common co-occurring conditions [4].
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for substance use disorders has demonstrated efficacy as both a monotherapy and as part of combination treatment strategies. [5]
Understand
In order to find out and discover the scope of the issues we conducted secondary research on alcohol abuse disorder, its connection to social anxiety and mobile apps..
Over half of the population in the United States owns a smartphone and 83% of these users do not leave their homes without it. [1]
The demand for MHapps is strong, as evidenced by a recent public survey that found that 76% of 525 respondents would be interested in using their mobile phones for self-management and self-monitoring of mental health if the service were free. [2]
Individuals with social anxiety have difficulty participating in group settings. Although it makes intuitive sense that social anxiety could present a challenge in an addiction treatment setting, which often involves small groups and encouraged to participate in self-help groups like Alcoholics Anonymous. [3]
Social anxiety and alcohol addiction are especially common co-occurring conditions [4].
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for substance use disorders has demonstrated efficacy as both a monotherapy and as part of combination treatment strategies. [5]
Understand
In order to find out and discover the scope of the issues we conducted secondary research on alcohol abuse disorder, its connection to social anxiety and mobile apps..
Over half of the population in the United States owns a smartphone and 83% of these users do not leave their homes without it. [1]
The demand for MHapps is strong, as evidenced by a recent public survey that found that 76% of 525 respondents would be interested in using their mobile phones for self-management and self-monitoring of mental health if the service were free. [2]
Individuals with social anxiety have difficulty participating in group settings. Although it makes intuitive sense that social anxiety could present a challenge in an addiction treatment setting, which often involves small groups and encouraged to participate in self-help groups like Alcoholics Anonymous. [3]
Social anxiety and alcohol addiction are especially common co-occurring conditions [4].
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for substance use disorders has demonstrated efficacy as both a monotherapy and as part of combination treatment strategies. [5]
Identify
Personas
The Italian Electronic Health Record Website, the tool through which citizens can trace and consult their entire health history has been neglected in terms of usability, user experience, and overall design. The users have negatively evaluated the service (especially in my region), and after critical analysis, it had been made clear that it needs to be completely deconstructed and re-conceptualized.
Problem statement
We then conducted the competitive audit of similar apps, like “Sober Today” and “I am Sober”. We took in consideration different factors such as functionalities, features, gamification, support in case of relapses.
Problem statement
Identify
Personas
The Italian Electronic Health Record Website, the tool through which citizens can trace and consult their entire health history has been neglected in terms of usability, user experience, and overall design. The users have negatively evaluated the service (especially in my region), and after critical analysis, it had been made clear that it needs to be completely deconstructed and re-conceptualized.
Problem statement
We then conducted the competitive audit of similar apps, like “Sober Today” and “I am Sober”. We took in consideration different factors such as functionalities, features, gamification, support in case of relapses.
Problem statement
Identify
Personas
The Italian Electronic Health Record Website, the tool through which citizens can trace and consult their entire health history has been neglected in terms of usability, user experience, and overall design. The users have negatively evaluated the service (especially in my region), and after critical analysis, it had been made clear that it needs to be completely deconstructed and re-conceptualized.
Problem statement
We then conducted the competitive audit of similar apps, like “Sober Today” and “I am Sober”. We took in consideration different factors such as functionalities, features, gamification, support in case of relapses.
Problem statement
Ideating a solution
We then defined the solution: a mobile app where the user will be able to undertake a journey toward sobriety following the CBT principles.
Gamification, Tracking, Self-reports, and Links to emergency lines are some of the main functionalities. The social and group aspect will still be present and reconceptualized in order to fit the virtual environment, as it has been proven to be extremely successful.
The therapy sessions have been selected from Project MATCH [6], a multisite clinical trial of patient-treatment matching sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The user will undertake 7 different sessions, that have the goal of training to use active behavioral or cognitive coping methods to deal with problems, rather than relying on alcohol as a maladaptive coping strategy.
Ideating a solution
We then defined the solution: a mobile app where the user will be able to undertake a journey toward sobriety following the CBT principles.
Gamification, Tracking, Self-reports, and Links to emergency lines are some of the main functionalities. The social and group aspect will still be present and reconceptualized in order to fit the virtual environment, as it has been proven to be extremely successful.
The therapy sessions have been selected from Project MATCH [6], a multisite clinical trial of patient-treatment matching sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The user will undertake 7 different sessions, that have the goal of training to use active behavioral or cognitive coping methods to deal with problems, rather than relying on alcohol as a maladaptive coping strategy.
Ideating a solution
We then defined the solution: a mobile app where the user will be able to undertake a journey toward sobriety following the CBT principles.
Gamification, Tracking, Self-reports, and Links to emergency lines are some of the main functionalities. The social and group aspect will still be present and reconceptualized in order to fit the virtual environment, as it has been proven to be extremely successful.
The therapy sessions have been selected from Project MATCH [6], a multisite clinical trial of patient-treatment matching sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The user will undertake 7 different sessions, that have the goal of training to use active behavioral or cognitive coping methods to deal with problems, rather than relying on alcohol as a maladaptive coping strategy.
Prototyping
Low Fidelity Prototypes
Paper prototyping was the best tool to think through and validate our initial ideas. We started sketching by hand the screens which we refined in the following stages of the process. This allowed us to quickly validate the single design choices. We later realized high fidelity wireframes.
User testing
We then conducted usability studies on the wireframes. The key performance indicators were:
Time to complete the task
Error Rate
Drop off rate
Prototyping
Low Fidelity Prototypes
Paper prototyping was the best tool to think through and validate our initial ideas. We started sketching by hand the screens which we refined in the following stages of the process. This allowed us to quickly validate the single design choices. We later realized high fidelity wireframes.
User testing
We then conducted usability studies on the wireframes. The key performance indicators were:
Time to complete the task
Error Rate
Drop off rate
Prototyping
Low Fidelity Prototypes
Paper prototyping was the best tool to think through and validate our initial ideas. We started sketching by hand the screens which we refined in the following stages of the process. This allowed us to quickly validate the single design choices. We later realized high fidelity wireframes.
User testing
We then conducted usability studies on the wireframes. The key performance indicators were:
Time to complete the task
Error Rate
Drop off rate
High fidelity prototypes
High fidelity prototypes
High fidelity prototypes
Video promo
Video promo
Video promo
Future improvements
While we had the possibility to test the app from a usability perspective the same couldn’t be possible in terms of the effectiveness of the chosen therapy sessions.
Observing, understanding, and analyzing how the users will interact with the app, and how the platform will support them in their journey to sobriety is the next big step.
In relationship to the features, we are looking forward to including a therapist account typology, the possibility to use chatbots, chat with people who managed to recover from alcohol abuse disorder, and lastly, exploring and introducing other psychological approaches.
Future improvements
While we had the possibility to test the app from a usability perspective the same couldn’t be possible in terms of the effectiveness of the chosen therapy sessions.
Observing, understanding, and analyzing how the users will interact with the app, and how the platform will support them in their journey to sobriety is the next big step.
In relationship to the features, we are looking forward to including a therapist account typology, the possibility to use chatbots, chat with people who managed to recover from alcohol abuse disorder, and lastly, exploring and introducing other psychological approaches.
Future improvements
While we had the possibility to test the app from a usability perspective the same couldn’t be possible in terms of the effectiveness of the chosen therapy sessions.
Observing, understanding, and analyzing how the users will interact with the app, and how the platform will support them in their journey to sobriety is the next big step.
In relationship to the features, we are looking forward to including a therapist account typology, the possibility to use chatbots, chat with people who managed to recover from alcohol abuse disorder, and lastly, exploring and introducing other psychological approaches.
Time
8 Weeks
My role
UX Designer
Method
Secondary Research, Personas,
Competitive audit, Wireframing, Prototyping
Tools
Figma, Photoshop, After Effects