FlowFlow
Medical treatment management for menstrual pain population
DURATION
4 months
2023 Fall
MY ROLE
User Researcher
UI designer
Programmer
TEAM
1 Product Designer
2 UX Designer
ABOUT
Industrial Design
Group Project
BACKGROUND
Many women experience varying degrees of discomfort during their menstrual cycles, including menstrual cramps, headaches, diarrhea, and more.
According to existing data, some prefer to take pain relievers only when experiencing menstrual cramps, which can sometimes result in missing the optimal timing for medication. Others may choose to endure the discomfort without medication until it subsides.
Therefore, menstruation can have a significantly negative impact on individuals experiencing menstrual pain.
PROBLEM
Many individuals are unaware of the specific timing and duration of their pain, which consequently affects their ability to implement intervention measures effectively.
Our challenge is to address how to empower individuals experiencing menstrual pain to better understand their body's condition during their periods and to provide more detailed tracking of menstrual pain.
"How might we enhance the overall experience for individuals suffering from severe menstrual pain by using scientific testing products in order to better self - managing their medication treatment?"
SOLUTION
We aim to provide more accurate prediction and visualization of menstrual pain for users through the combination of an app and a smartwatch. By integrating data collected from the smart devices such as heart rate and body temperature, along with users' self-reported data, we can predict the onset and duration of menstrual pain. This will help individuals experiencing menstrual pain to have a more comfortable and manageable lifestyle during their menstrual cycles.
Problem
Users are unable to visualize their physical and mental conditions on a menstrual record app
Existing menstrual record apps don't have a more detailed way of recording menstrual cramps for the dysmenorrheal community
Solution
A more aesthetically pleasing and emotionally valuable interface
Visualizing body data as flower shapes, and incorporating physical conditions and emotional states into records, better meets the needs of the menstrual pain population.
Problem
Users with dysmenorrhea often experience emergencies and therefore need to prepare medicines in advance
Solution
Remind users to prepare in advance based on menstrual cycle predictions
The app automatically reminds users to prepare medications, and users can also edit other notes based on their own circumstances
DESIGN PROCESS
USER RESEARCH
· Observation
· Survey
· Interview
· Persona
PRODUCT FEATURE DEFINE & PRIORITY
· Revise Problem Statement
· Feature Brainstorm
· Key Feature 1.0
DESIGN EXPLORATION
· Co-Design Workshop
· Refine Design Direction
· Key Feature 2.0
· Conceptual Model
DESIGN EXPLORATION
· Co-Design Workshop
· Refine Design Direction
· Key Feature 2.0
USABILITY TEST
· Usability Test
· Design Iterations
USER RESEARCH
OBSERVATION
In order to have a general understanding of how people with menstrual pain deal with their symptom, as well as generate and synthesize our focal points for further research. We observed 6 people in their daily living context, via both online and in-person approach.
Finding - Initial Problem Statement
How might we help menstrual pain population better self - manage their medication treatment?
Focus Points
The behavior of the menstrual pain population in acute pain relief intervention
The behavior of the menstrual pain population in long-term treatment
Menstrual pain population’s perception of taking medicine
SURVEY
To validate our hypothesis that many menstrual population are suffering from severe pain with/without medical treatment and get an overview of behavior of menstrual pain population taking treatment.
Participants: 49 people with menstrual symptoms
Dysmenorrhea seriously affects the lives of some users
40% can't do anything during menstruation or have to force to go on
86% of people who have a serious impact on their lives choose to take medication.
Misjudgment in timing of medication in severe dysmenorrhea group
63% of people will take medication during menstrual cramps
Among those who do not take medication, 80% of them feel that they have not reached the point where medication is necessary, but 87% of people experience severe impacts on their daily lives.
Problem Statement Revised
How might we help menstrual pain population better self - manage their medication treatment?
How might we help individuals suffering from severe menstrual pain better self - manage their medication treatment?
INTERVIEW
In order to learn user story and more in-depth reasons that prevent users from managing their pain successfully through proper medication treatment, we recruited 5 participants for the interview. The
Interview notes Affinity Mapping I Affinity Mapping II
Key Findings
Users forget to prepare for future menstrual pain because once it's gone, it leaves no lasting reminder.
Users usually don't have time or patience to take further long-term treatment
Users unable to estimate the peak level and time of pain, result in not taking medicine in time
Users are lacking profounds knowledge of medicine treatment, such as duration of effectiveness and side effect
PERSONA
Personas are derived from our previous qualitative user study.
We categorized our personas in terms of health & medication condition as severe menstrual pain population that forget to take medicine, severe menstrual pain population that don’t take medicine, severe menstrual pain population that could not properly take the medicine.
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PRODUCT FEATURE DEFINE & PRIORITY
REVISE PROBLEM STATEMENT
"How might we enhance the overall experience for individuals suffering from severe menstrual pain by using scientific testing products in order to better self - managing their medication treatment?"
FEATURE BRAINSTORM
We categorized our brainstorming sessions into four types based on the degree of need, and we have also distinguished whether they are functional features.
KEY FEATURES 1.0
Based on the brainstorming session's sorting, we have summarized the three main functionalities and listed the task scenarios corresponding to each function.
Reminding medicine taking with no time burden
Provide knowledge and awareness of medicine
Provide predictive features to ensure users take medication on time
Task scenarios of this 3 features
DESIGN EXPLORATION
CO-DESIGN WORKSHOP
To better understand users' ideal product, we conducted a codesign workshop, allowing users to envision the intended features and characteristics of the product themselves. This helped us iterate and refine the product according to user preferences.
01
Collage (Current & ideal experience)
02
System Mapping for idea experience
Prototyping
03
Insights
Empathy and Support
Users desire empathy and understanding from others when they are not feeling well due to their menstrual cycle.
Visual Aid for Pain with Aesthetic Appeal
Converting pain into a nice graphic can make users feel better and understand their discomfort.
Medication Reminders and Period Prediction
It's essential for the device to offer timely medication reminders and predict the onset of their period.
REFINED DESIGN DIRECTION
Through the codesign workshop, we discovered that users place great emphasis on the aesthetics and privacy of the interface. Therefore, we have readjusted the design direction accordingly.
A light-weighted Mobile application which help severe menstrual pain population with predicting and tracking their menstrual status through self-report, together with smartwatch which can detect HRV and body temperature to assist their self-report process and warn user as a lasting reminder.
Key Features 2.0
Design Direction Validation
Based on the design direction, we have designed a conceptual model to integrate the overall concept.
[1] Alzueta, E., de Zambotti, M., Javitz, H., Dulai, T., Albinni, B., Simon, K.C., Sattari, N., Zhang, J., Shuster, A., Mednick, S.C. and Baker, F.C. (2022). Tracking Sleep, Temperature, Heart Rate, and Daily Symptoms Across the Menstrual Cycle with the Oura Ring in Healthy Women. International Journal of Women’s Health, [online] 14, pp.491–503. doi:https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S341917.
[2] Northshore Organization(n.d.). Painful Periods Impact Heart Health | NorthShore. [online] Available at: https://www.northshore.org/healthy-you/painful-periods-impact-heart-health/#:~:text=When%20compared%20to%20healthy%20controls [Accessed 12 Oct. 2023].
[3] Maijala, A., Kinnunen, H., Koskimäki, H., Jämsä, T. and Kangas, M. (2019). Nocturnal finger skin temperature in menstrual cycle tracking: ambulatory pilot study using a wearable Oura ring. BMC Women’s Health, 19(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-019-0844-9.
[4] Oura Team (2020). How Accurate Are Oura’s Heart Rate & HRV Measurements? [online] The Pulse Blog. Available at: https://ouraring.com/blog/how-accurate-is-oura/.
CONCEPTUAL MODEL
Based on the design direction, we have designed a conceptual model to integrate the overall concept.
SOLUTION
LOW-FIDELITY MODEL
Based on the conceptual model, we have drawn out the pages.
HIGH-FIDELITY MODEL
We focused on key pages to create high-fidelity prototypes.
USER TESTING
Goals & Tasks
Goals Tasks
Metrics
We recruited 4 female students from Georgia Tech from our personal networks. We want to focus the testing mainly on these three metrics.
Procedures
We simulated the heart rate monitoring function of the smart wristband using an Arduino pulse sensor and created a ring as a substitute for the smart device. We conducted two rounds of user tests to assess the feasibility of the app from different perspectives.
Result & Recommendation
The users are generally satisfied with the overall results. However, we have also identified some issues.