Ustwo Studios is a Business Reporter client.
Why we should stop disturbing and start worrying.
Hope. Fear. Uncertainty. Love. Anxiety.
Healthcare is not just about statistics, science, and quantifiable results. It is an emotional and deeply personal experience, whether someone is seeking fertility treatments to become a parent, managing a chronic condition so they can live life on their own terms, or extending their time with loved ones.
When we work on digital health products, from treatment companion apps to tools for doctors, we must keep this human aspect as a priority.
Digital is not just a way to make the health field more efficient. And it is certainly not just about innovating for the sake of innovation or “disrupting” the industry.
If used correctly, digital products can help make healthcare more humane.
Design for emotional journeys
When the emotional response is at the foundation of the design process, digital products can help make the healthcare process less daunting.
Our award-winning companion app for Alder Hey Children's HospitalFor example, it uses a chatbot and augmented reality (AR) to make young patients feel more familiar and comfortable with their medical treatments and the hospital environment.
Vibrant emotional health recognized the importance of empathetic digital experiences when we were invited to a pro bono project to address the needs of people queuing at the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. We created Safe Space, a virtual experience that provides coping tools and distraction techniques through a relaxing interface for passive interactivity. The experience was shaped by conducting user research with genuine care to understand people's feelings, fears and goals when visiting The Safe Space.
Digital health experiences designed for areas outside the mental health space must also take people's emotional well-being into account in the design phase.
Let's look, for example, at people who are going through their fertility process. Most apps designed for this purpose focus on the clinical aspect of fertility treatments, but people also need emotional support. That's why Helios Health partnered with the two of us to create Pineapp, a digital complementary service to support in-person fertility treatment and the broader medical journey.
In our user research and focus groups, we heard about the emotional journey. That people often feel isolated, alone, overwhelmed or “disconnected” between appointments, which is particularly true for people embarking on their first fertility experience. And we all know very well that health services are often time-constrained, meaning that clinical consultations risk inadequately addressing questions and anxieties.
With all this in mind, we knew that Pineapp would have to be informative, relevant, and supportive for newcomers and veterans alike, because it's not unusual for people to undergo fertility treatments more than once. Some people become experts in the field in their own right.
By providing deeper insights and personalized treatment plans, addressing the individual's experience as an emotional journey, Pineapp meets them where they are today and supports mental and physiological health.
It empowers people, giving them understanding, control and agency over their own fertility journey. Run at your own pace.
We are channeling the same principles in our work as founding partner and digital experience leader of Platform against cancer, an online platform and product currently created by Cancer Awareness Trust. It will provide accurate and reliable information to people affected by cancer or looking for ways to reduce their risk so they can take charge of their own health. The goal is to help them feel confident about their treatment and medical decisions.
No matter the area of healthcare, our work in this space is connected to empowering people who seek or receive care, even when the primary users are physicians. For example, we design a product with Fresenius which helps doctors make decisions with the full understanding of their patients and a patient companion who helps them more clearly understand chronic kidney disease treatment options.
Reshaping the doctor-patient bond
Can an app avoid becoming a barrier between the individual and their doctor and actually connect them better?
We know that when approaching work like Pineapp there is a fear that the technology will collapse or become a barrier to the doctor-patient relationship. Patients are often concerned that online consultations, automated responses or even artificial intelligence systems could eventually replace face-to-face consultations. But when designed carefully and with a human-centered perspective, digital technology has the opportunity to support and strengthen the partnership between the individual and their doctor.
When we worked at Pineapp, we spoke to people and doctors regularly, making sure both sides of the treatment experience were heard.
To create stronger bonds between patient and doctor, we held clinical focus groups and identified ways the product could positively impact the fertility journey. For example, Pineapp demystifies medical jargon and offers information that helps people have more productive in-person conversations with their doctors.
Instead of replacing Through human connection, Pineapp acts as a bridge between expectant parents and care teams between appointments. Offers essential information and emotional support. This helps prevent people from feeling abandoned after seeing a healthcare professional and extends the relationship beyond face-to-face appointments.
In the meantime, we've been working on more data-driven projects, like Fresenius' Doctor app or Deep mental healthThe Streams app helps give doctors more time to spend with patients and the tools they need to personalize care.
Manage technology risks with a people-centered approach
Of course, healthcare is a highly regulated space. Any digital health service must consider health outcomes, patient safety, data privacy, and compliance with regulatory and other standards.
ustwo's approach to all our digital health work is to keep everything we design people-centered. This means, of course, human-centered design. But more than that, it means emotional response and real connections. We design with individuals and physicians, rather than simply for them. And we recognize that people – especially those from marginalized groups – have been harmed by medical technology before.
Technology must become more responsible because it tends to amplify inequality and prejudice. There are obvious and well-documented concerns about data privacy and security in menstrual health and other healthcare apps. And AI and other data-driven technologies have enormous potential in diagnostics: if misused, they inadvertently run risks. worsening health inequalities experienced by ethnic minority groups due to biased algorithms, poor data collection, and lack of diversity in research and development. Stories like these are why we believe it's essential that all our design work is human-centered, emotionally intuitive, and responsive.
Someone out there who understands us
What is the way forward in the digital health industry? Stop disturbing and start worrying.
While working at Pineapp, one of our research participants told us:
“It is a new tool for all women of the future. We would feel like there is someone out there who understands us. I wish all clinics could offer us this.”
Someone out there who understands us. That's why we do this work.
To learn more about our work and values, visit ustwo.com.
