OVERVIEW
SeizureGuard
Role
Project Designer
Timeline
Oct - Feb 2024
Background
This app was designed for the 2024 Student mHealth App Competition, organized by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society alongside the 2023 International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care. Competing against 98 teams from around the world, we were honored to win first place.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Objective
The goal was to create a mobile experience for female to support female safety during navigation in urban environments. Epilepsy is a brain disorder that causes recurring, unprovoked seizures and is the fourth most common neurological disorder in the world. This disease negatively impacts patients’ safety, relationships, and daily life. Additionally, many have sustained serious injuries during seizure episodes. Given the research and data, the overarching question was:
There are …
3.4 million
of Americans have active epilepsy
82.5%
of patients have sustained injury due to an epileptic seizure
95%
of patients require a caregiver to manage their epilepsy situation
PATIENT
How might we assist seizure patients in managing their onset situations and seeking immediate help?
CAREGIVER
How might we assist caregivers to monitor and manage their patients’ health condition and provide immediate help to them?
Since we know that epilepsy patients often get hurt during a seizure onset due to not having a caregiver to help on time and correctly, especially when alone or in a public space, there is an opportunity for users to get faster help by having their phone play an alert sound to raise attention from the public, provide guidance, and call 911 if there is no response. This will reduce the amount of injuries, increase patient safety and independence, and boost user satisfaction.
Five Design Challenges
GENERATIVE QUAL RESEARCH
What is the task flow when a seizure happens?
Research guide + interview questions
Research goals
Identify the task flow when a seizure happens
Extract user pain-points
Identify opportunities to complete other tasks
Methods & Recruiting
50 surveys with 32 patients and 18 caregivers
12 user interviews with 6 patients and 6 caregivers
OUR USERS
Patient
Seizure-Induced Injuries from Unsafe Environments
Patients experience varied levels of body injuries during seizures, eg. falling in an unsafe environment
Social Isolation Due to Unpredictable Seizures
Patients often feel socially isolated due to the unpredictability of their seizures, leading to anxiety and depression
Emergency Response
Difficulty in getting immediate help during a seizure, especially when alone or in public places
Motivation
Predictable Seizure
It would be helpful if seizures were predictable, as it could assist patients in preventing public embarrassment and injuries
Caregiver
Challenges in Medication Adherence for Patients
Patients frequently either take the wrong medication or forget to take their prescribed medicine
Emergency Situations
Caregivers are often unsure of the best course of action during a seizure emergency, leading to panic and ineffective responses
Medical Coordination
Coordinating with multiple patients and healthcare providers to manage the condition can be complex and time-consuming
RESEARCH INSIGHTS
Workflow of an epilepsy onset…
Ensuring a clear airway
Turning patient on their side
Furthermore, there are additional actions that can be taken, such as recording and timing the seizure…
Remove sharp objects nearby
RESEARCH INSIGHTS
Through interviews, we found two scenarios for seizures: the presence or absence of a caregiver. Patients feel less anxious with a caregiver, but what if they are alone during a seizure?
Delayed Assistance
70% of patients report experiencing seizures without immediate assistance. This delay in aid can result in serious consequences, such as there is no one to ensure a clear airway
Increased Risk of Injury
90% of patients reported sustaining injuries during seizures, such as hitting objects or falling in unsafe environments
Lack of Monitoring
30% of patients mentioned having no one to observe the seizure's duration, type, or any unusual characteristics, which could be valuable information for healthcare professionals
Emotional Distress
97% of patients experience heightened emotional distress due to the absence of a familiar and supportive presence during a vulnerable moment
Difficulty Communicating
In case of postictal confusion or disorientation after the seizure, the patient might face challenges in communicating their needs or any potential symptoms to the caregiver
Missed Medication Administration
If a seizure occurs at a time when medication should be administered, the caregiver might not be present to ensure timely medication, potentially leading to fatal consequences
SOLUTION
Through insights, we understand that it is very dangerous for patients when a caregiver is not present during an epilepsy onset. Therefore, we need to prepare for this situation with a support mechanism
CHALLENGE 01 SOLUTION
RESEARCH IMPACT
Design Goals
Accessibility
Facilitates seeking help for patients with limited mobility or in a faint condition
Safety
Minimize the risk of injury
Speed
Instantly receive assistance with provided instructions
Product card
How did I decide the information layout?
MORE RESEARCH
Figure out info hierarchy
Different users care about different information. How to treat each piece of info with a different priority?
CHALLENGE
Card-sorting activity
Card sorting
Research results
RESEARCH RESULTS
Info hierarchy
CHALLENGE 2 DESIGN DECISIONS
HMW design a home page that includes the critical information?
01
Users manually fill out the information
Cons:
Health graphs have low practicality; not many people understand or look at them.
02
Information on different pages
Cons:
Too many actions are required on one page
03
Integrated information with multi-selecting
Consistency and reduce error
Pros:
Instantly view all health data at once
Information is divided into sections
User Behavior
Need to try their best to undertake several crucial actions before they lose conscious, including finding a safe environment, informing caregivers, and adjusting activities to minimize potential harm
Seizure has negatively impact their mental well-being and daily life
Regularly monitor their symptoms, noting changes in their body, mood, or other indicators that could precede a seizure
Actively try to identify potential triggers for seizures
OUR USERS
Caregiver
Often need to provide immediate assistance to patients
Often experience anxiety and stress, worrying about when seizures will occur suddenly in their patients
May not always be physically present with the person they are caring for
Need to intervene quickly, ensuring the safety of the person having the seizure
Seizure sometimes requires emergency medical attention
Patient
DESIGN DECISIONS
HMW alert patients about a upcoming or current seizure?
Two design solutions
DESIGN 01
DESIGN 02
EVALUATIVE RESEARCH
Usability Tests
Research goals
Evaluate the accessibility of the alert notification
Assigned tasks
Thoughts about the alert
Recruiting
5 users
My role
Write up research plan
Create Figma prototypes
Lead sessions & take notes
Research
Fully interactive Figma prototypes
OBSERVATION 1
Negative or alarming measurements could potentially heighten anxiety
Patients may feel nervous and tense when encountering unfavorable health data during a seizure, especially in a situation that is already stressful
The visual emphasis on the health data has been observed to cause stress to patients
DESIGN 01
DESIGN 02
OBSERVATION 2
Practicality and keeping info concise
Patients do not need to know detailed information about their seizure as it occurs; this information would be more helpful for caregivers to understand the patients’ current condition.
CHALLENGE 3 SOLUTION
Leave the seizure information to the caregivers
We decided not to emphasize abnormal health data on the patient's interface. Our goal is to relieve the patient's pressure by only requiring them to confirm whether it's a false alarm. If it is, the alarm will cancel immediately. If not, the app will contact the caregiver immediately. Depending on the caregiver's distance from the patient, the phone will play an alert sound to ask for help from bystanders and provide guidance once they confirm their assistance. If no one responds within 5 minutes, the app will automatically call 911 for the user.
Patient Interface
Wearable device
Phone alert
Caregiver Interface
In-app noti
Outside app noti
How might we enable caregivers and bystanders to obtain information about how to help a patient during an epileptic episode in the fastest and most efficient way?
User-Based Evaluation of Voice and Tap Interaction for Seizure Assistance
We conducted an evaluation with 5 caregivers to compare the time, satisfaction, and completion rate of the rescue process using Voice Interaction versus Tap Interaction. In a simulated epilepsy scenario, caregivers tried both methods. Results showed that Ideation 2 had higher satisfaction, higher completion rates, and took less time than Ideation 3. Caregivers need to fully monitor patients, leaving little time to focus on the phone screen, making tapping less ideal. Additionally, they are unlikely to revisit previous steps since the saving procedure is ascending.
CHALLENGE 4 SOLUTION
RESEARCH INSIGHTS
User Needs
User needs an organized tool to record the entire seizure experience, making it convenient to share with doctors for a comprehensive understanding of their condition and for planning subsequent treatment
Users needs to track the frequency, duration, and intensity of their seizures over time. This information helps them and their healthcare providers gain insights into patterns and potential triggers
User needs a time-efficient way to track epilepsy-related events, such as seizures and medications
Users need to identify triggers to avoid triggers or make informed lifestyle changes to minimize exposure to triggers
RESEARCH
Competitive Analysis
I conducted a competitive analysis of the current four most popular apps that focus on assisting epilepsy patients, analyzing their features and how they aim to support patients from different perspectives
Combining the interview insights, I discovered that ...
Tracking seizure is critical to seizure patients as it provides valuable insights
Recording videos is helpful for identifying specific manifestations and behaviors exhibited during the preictal, ictal, and postictal phases
Explaining the condition of seizures to a doctor can indeed be challenging due to its inherent variability and the multitude of factors influencing its presentation
Three Design Solutions
01
Users manually fill out the information
Pros:
Users have complete control over what information is entered and how it is presented
Cons:
Manually entering all information can be tedious
The process may lead to user frustration or fatigue
02
Information on different pages
Pros:
Users can concentrate on one piece of information at a time without being overwhelmed by too much data
Cons:
Users may find it cumbersome to click through multiple pages, especially if they need to review all information
03
Integrated information with multi-selecting
Time efficiency
Consistency and reduce error
Pros:
Users can quickly select multiple options without needing to navigate through multiple pages or menus, saving time and reducing effort
Allows users to handle multiple tasks or make several selections in one go, which streamlines the process and enhances the user experience
The right component for each selection
SELECTION
When
Selected Trigger
Selected Consciousness
Selected Trigger
Search
Type
COMPONENT
Date and time picker
Multi-selected buttons
Button
Multi-selected form
Search Bar
Textfield
DESIGN
User flow of how to determine triggers
CHALLENGE 5 SOLUTION
