A multi-disciplinary studio focused on helping people know and understand where they are on the diabetes spectrum: healthy, pre-diabetes, or diabetes, and what that means for them and what actions they can take working with all stakeholders. The deliverable for the project is to develop a tool/ system that will empower the patient to manage and improve their health outcome.
Benchmarking Research
The Live Well team researched diabetes information and became familiar with the disease. After getting a better understanding of the subject, they began looking at other disease campaigns in order to see what they have done and what has worked.
Consumer Interaction Plan
After the Kick Off presentation, the faculty lead a discussion with the students and the Live Well team. After much consideration, they came up with a discussion guide and a card sorting activity for the upcoming consumer interactions.
First Consumer Interaction
For the first consumer interaction the team received 7 different respondents at the facility. The team was greeted with a warm welcome, and interviewed respondents using the discussion guide. After the sorting activity the respondents were free to go.
Consumer Interaction Debrief
To start, the Live Well team discussed and created a mind map that visualized information seeking decisions. They then plotted insights from the first consumer interaction onto the map and talked about conclusions that could be drawn from the findings. Upon completion of the first consumer interaction, it was time to plan for the next upcoming in-home interview. A second interview guide was created in order to complement the first one. The team presented the respondents with the current ADA Diabetes Risk Assessment in order to gather opinions about the tool. The respondents were then interviewed using the second interview guide. A card sorting activity was performed with the respondents towards the end and then the Live Well team was given a tour of the respondents' homes in order to gather more insights. The same discussions and card sorting activity were also carried out with international students. Participants included 5 Colombian, and 4 Mexican Master's and PHD Students. They ranged in ages 26-36.
Mind Mapping
The Live Well team collected all the insights posted on the wall from the first consumer interaction and digitized the information. The digital map is visual data that can be printed in large scale.
Insights Into the Life of a Diabetic
Craig Vogel, Associate Dean of DAAP in the University of Cincinnati, talked about the complexity of information related to his diabetes tool and how it could be improved. Craig stated how important the role of the designer is when presenting important information.
Second Consumer Interaction Debrief
After the second consumer interaction, the team created a key for the insights that allowed them to track race, age, gender, and diabetes status. They then created an improved mind map that visualized information seeking decisions. Students wrote down their findings and carefully plotted them on the map.
Benchmark Analysis
The Live Well team analyzed weeks of benchmarking research and created visuals for the upcoming research presentation.
The Live Well team made many efforts to reach out to consumers. Besides sending emails and making phone calls to local health events, they created flyers that specifically targeted African American and Hispanic individuals. The flyers were distributed at the Price Hill Women’s Health Fair in order to give attendants an overview of Live Well's goals for the project. More respondents were successfully recruited within the target demographic. Next, everyone worked together and brainstormed numerous ideas to discuss and elaborate on for the upcoming co-creation session.
For the third consumer interaction the team set up the room with five tables. Each table belonged to a different group of students who had different tool concepts to present. The respondents were distributed between all the tables and rotated after a set time. Feedback was collected and was used to refine the concepts. Respondent's inputs and reactions were recorded throughout the entire process. After the input from the co-creation sessions, the Live Well team worked together to refine the concepts.
Maurice Huey, executive director of the American Diabetes Association of greater Cincinnati, provided valuable feedback on the developing concepts. His input was used to further refine the concepts before the initial concept presentation. After applying feedback received during the initial concept presentation, the team used a variety of media to conduct the fourth user testing session. Using the map displayed above, the participants were instructed to mark which option they would prefer if they were to be introduced to the tool at different touchpoints. They were also asked to mark what option they might choose for each section of the tool across My Accessibility, My Risk Level, My Body, My Support Network and My Plan of Action. The data collected from this activity was later used to refine the tool in order for it to create the largest impact with the consumer group and fine tune the overall system.
The fifth and final consumer interaction with members from two user groups tested the usability of the tool. We provided the users with interactive prototypes and a brief description about the tasks they had to perform. After applying feedback, the Live Well team created a comprehensive guidebook that contains: risk assessment test, information about the diabetic condition, and what people can do to live healthier. The guidebook also gives information about the consequences of diabetes, eating habits and physical activity. It further provides simple, health smart diets and clarifies the most common myths about diabetes while taking into account the latest research development in the field.
My Body My Tool
A “My Body” lifestyle tool was created in order to help the registered and the unregistered user see the effect of diabetes on the human body and organs over time. The tool further lets the registered user input their diet and exercise routine in order to check their current health plan for its effectiveness. It also suggests new plans in order to improve the users health.
The Risk Assessment Test
Users of the tool can take a Risk Assessment Test that considers all the factors that influence a person’s risk level with respect to diabetes and indicates if they are at high, moderate, low risk level. It also provides useful information about the action that needs to be take along with some contact information that can lead the users to the other tool proposed in the My Life system.
