Guided Cognitive Walkthrough
STUDY PROCEDURES
We created an application named Mind Map, which allows users to navigate their mental health. The overall purpose of this technology is to aid mental health and build individual resilience. We plan to give individuals the tools necessary to navigate their mental health by providing them with an extensive list of resources. They can find chat rooms that are specialized and give them an outlet to discuss how they are feeling with individuals experiencing similar issues. They can also journal about their personal experiences in a password-protected, and chronologically ordered digital journal. They can find licensed professionals and review their profiles to assess who might be the best match for them. They are also provided with various hotlines—the crisis and the suicide hotline, for example—that are specialized in de-escalating certain mental health-related situations. And lastly, they are provided with a few individual regulatory practices to help them learn to self-soothe. The ultimate goal is to make the user feel in control of their mental health and give them the resources to be able to do so.
the primary user of the app is going to be people who are experiencing problems with their mental health. This is the reason we went on to design this app in the first place. This app has so many features at the fingertips of the user to help improve their mental health. Whether that be chat forums, affirmations, journaling, and other mental health resources. When we were coming up with the idea of creating a mental health app, we went in thinking about how mental health is a big problem surrounding all ages. We wanted to design an inclusive and sustainable mental health system keeping that in mind. In addition, other potential users for the app would be therapists and other people involved in a field related to mental health. Since the user can directly book an appointment and contact a therapist in the app, they can hold conversations with them and interact in other ways. Overall, this is just the beginning, and we hope to improve our app to reach more users and be a reliable app that users can trust.
The main tasks that the prototype is intended to support are conveyed through our five use cases. The chat feature is meant to allow the user to add chat forums to their chat forum page that they relate to and use them as a platform to connect with others going through similar things. The journal allows the user to create new journal entries and document their thoughts and feelings. The compass prompts exercises for the user such as breathing and meditation exercises. This is supposed to allow the user to relax and destress. The find help section is meant for users to find therapists nearby that their insurance covers. Lastly, the resources tab creates a hub of helpful mental health resources.
RESULTS
I chose to have my 16-year-old sister, my parents, and my 20-year-old college friend test my application to provide a diversity of ages since the app is meant for middle school age and up. One of the most prominent issues that occurred was user reassurance. With certain tasks the user carried out, such as when searching for chat forums, the user felt stuck and didn’t know where to go. After the chat forum is added the user doesn’t know if they are done or what to do. On the journal when the user is done with their journal, they aren’t sure if it has been saved or not, which could lead to data loss and user frustration. This also occurs with the compass. It shows that the user is done, but they don’t know where to go after. Another prominent issue was functionality. On the find help page, buttons lead back to pages that were already used for different functions. On the compass, certain buttons didn’t even work. Also, when the user is done with the exercise and doesn’t want to do more on the compass, it takes them straight to the home page which could be confusing. Other buttons weren’t even buttons but looked like they were. For example, a lot of the components within the resources page look like buttons but aren’t, and some should be made into buttons. The journal is missing certain functionalities such as a delete button. The last prominent issue is delivering on use case goals. For example, when searching for a therapist on the Find Help page, the main goal is for the user to enter in their location and insurance. These criteria are only found within the advanced search, which can be a second thought to users.
Other critiques involved making certain things more prominent. For example, on the chat feature when the user searches for a message in the chat and clicks on it, it is unclear to see where that specific message is located even though the user just searched for it. On the compass, small things like the measurement (like minutes) to input a custom time aren’t clarified. On the journal, there should be text inside all the journal entries to show that they were already made. Also, to edit an entry the user should be able to tap on the journal entry instead of clicking the pencil. On the Find help page, it doesn’t go in-depth enough with scheduling an appointment. It is also confusing viewing saved therapists because the page is the same one that shows up after searching. There is a minor inconsistency within the application. The compass has a tool bar on the top which no other page has, and the resources page looks slightly inconsistent with the rest of the application.
Overall, the users evaluating the application said that the application was visually appealing and easy to use. The users feel fairly confident navigating the app except for the few small bumps listed above. They said the app flows and is mostly consistent. My sister said, “I wish this app was actually developed because I want to use it”.
IMPLICATIONS
To improve the journal, we need to add text to all the premade journal entries to have it make sense since the user wouldn’t have a blank journal entry. A delete button needs to be added to the journal entry and there needs to be a save button or reassurance that it is automatically saved. Also, when editing an entry, the user should be able to edit just by clicking on the page and we should get rid of the pencil button.
To improve the Find Help page, there needs to be another page that goes more in-depth with scheduling an appointment, and a library with saved therapists that looks different than the search result page. The main therapist search page should have the user input insurance and location. Also, when doing the advanced search, there should be values added to the prototype to show better functionality.
To improve the Compass, we should get rid of the unnecessary buttons on the top bar. When the user is done an exercise and clicks “No, I’m done”, the application should take the user to the main page of the use case instead of the home screen. Also, the custom times should clarify if it is seconds or minutes when the user is inputting it.
To improve the chat, after adding a chat forum, there should be a done button that returns the user to the chat forum page. Also, when searching for a text, the whole text should be highlighted after being selected to show the user where it is.
To improve the resources page, links should be made into buttons and certain components should be made into buttons that expand on the subject, but anything that isn’t supposed to be a button should look less like a button.