Psiquê: enhancing the experience of care
UX/UI DESIGN
CHALLENGE
TOOLS
This UX case study was developed as part of the final project for the UX Design course in the UX Unicórnio program. A platform for online psychological counseling was created in response to the increasing demand for psychological support in Brazil, driven by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Figma, Miro, Adobe Creative, Trello
Set 2021 to Jan 2022
TIME
Overview
This case was developed by the NOSSU team, a group formed by students from the UX Unicórnio course, composed of Samantha Cortijo, Carla Batista, Isabela Custódio, and Nathália Oliveira.
ROLE
The Challenge
Identifying issues in the online psychological service process to enhance the experience and quality of the service.
How to leverage telemedicine opportunities to enhance the mental health of Brazilians in need of psychological support?
The current scenario
2020 brought many changes for everyone, including the mental health of many Brazilians. Ipsos research revealed that 53% of Brazilians stated that their mental health changed significantly for the worse since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, suicide rates among young people aged 15 to 29 in Brazil have increased significantly, accounting for nearly 6% of the population according to the OMS. Work relationships are becoming increasingly exhausting, and the loneliness brought about by social isolation has led to feelings and pathologies that only the correct therapeutic assistance can reverse these numbers.
The concern for mental health, in the face of a period of fears and uncertainties, intensified the search for the term ‘psychological counseling.’ Approximately one month into the isolation following the start of the pandemic, from April 19 to 25, 2020, the search for the term ‘psychological counseling’ increased by 84%, while ‘online psychological counseling’ reached 33%. After two months of quarantine, from May 24 to 30, the searches for the same terms represented 76% and 50%, respectively.
“Graph: Google Searches for ‘psychological counseling’ and ‘online psychological counseling’”
All of this intensified the search for assistance and specialized professionals to meet the emerging demand. Online therapy sessions have been available since 2018, proven to be effective. However, some individuals still encounter a lack of confidence in undergoing remote treatment. Therefore, it is more than necessary to develop solutions capable of providing the necessary support to psychologists, enabling them to assist in online counseling with integrity and effectiveness.
The project’s objective
Although the challenge initially set a goal focused on leveraging telemedicine opportunities to enhance the mental health of those in need of psychological support, after research and applications (demonstrated throughout the case), the actual objective was defined, with a focus on psychologists.
How to assist psychologists in their professional practice to address daily needs, aiming for a good relationship with their patients?
Business objective
When we take a moment to analyze the challenge, we understand that by improving the professionals’ experience with telemedicine, the patients will also benefit.
Based on the context at hand and with the assistance of the S.M.A.R.T methodology, we have defined the business objective, as can be demonstrated below:
Create an online support platform by December 2021, assisting clinical psychologists in managing their businesses and providing them with the necessary skills for their profession. The aim is to enhance the quality of patient care from all parts of Brazil.
Users
Despite our solution’s primary focus on directly addressing the needs of psychologists, we opted to develop two user types for the creation of personas. Both personas were edited and validated after qualitative research.
Persona 1: Psychologists seeking ways to connect with patients and who have conducted or are currently conducting online sessions.
Persona 2: Patients who have undergone or are undergoing psychological counseling, both in-person and online.
User Profiles: Psychologist & Patient
User Profile: Psychologist
User Profile: patient
User Journey: Psychologist & Patient
We have developed a User Journey Map for each persona, aiming to dissect all stages of the process associated with psychological counseling. Both maps were edited and validated based on the information discovered during qualitative research.
The purpose of understanding the attitudes, thoughts, and feelings of both users is to identify opportunities for solving the contextualized problem.”
User journey: psychologist
User journey: patient
First validation
In this first validation stage, the CSD Matrix was initially developed to list certainties, assumptions, and relevant doubts on the subject.
Subsequently, we also utilized an Impact x Knowledge Matrix to prioritize and align points that needed clarification in the research, where we lacked knowledge and which would significantly influence the platform’s development.
CSD matrix
Impact x Knowledge Matrix
User journey: patient
Quantitative Research
With the aim of capturing the perceptions of patients and psychologists regarding online psychological counseling and validating the hypotheses raised through the previous matrices, two surveys were conducted.
The questions were designed to understand the behavior of Brazilians who have undergone or are undergoing therapy, as well as to comprehend why some individuals have never engaged in therapy. Additionally, the surveys aimed to understand the routines of psychologists concerning counseling and the use of existing platforms.
The chosen method was a questionnaire, created using Google Forms and distributed through our own network contacts and posts on social media.
Flowcharts representing the structure of the forms in the quantitative research.
You can view details of the Quantitative Research Plans: Psychologists and Patients by clicking below:
Results of Quantitative Research: Psychologists & Patients
The results of these surveys guided us in relation to the next steps. Here are the most relevant insights:
Quantitative Research Results: psychologists & Patients
Qualitative Research
For the qualitative research, we conducted in-depth interviews with patients and psychologists aiming to understand the main obstacles of online counseling.
The interviews with psychologists aimed to comprehend different realities regarding online counseling, including:
Psychologists who do not provide online counseling;
Psychologists who provide online counseling through a platform;
Psychologists who provide online counseling independently.
The interviews with patients aimed to understand different perspectives regarding the patient’s situation, involving:
Patients who undergo online counseling through a platform;
Patients who undergo online counseling without a platform.
You can view details of the Qualitative Research Plans: Psychologists and Patients by clicking below:
Qualitative Research Results: Psychologists & Patients
Interviewing psychologists and patients was essential for a better understanding of their realities. Through these interviews, we were able to identify more detailed patterns and insights to inform our decisions. Below, we have listed our key learnings for both profiles.
Qualitative Research Results: psychologists & patients
Next steps
This project involves the complete development of an application as part of the UX Design course completion project at UX Unicórnio. Therefore, it was necessary to split it into more than one part. To check the second stage of the project, following the ideation and solution generation phase, as well as wireframe development, testing, and prototyping, please visit the link.