appheimer
An Alzheimer's mobile app that enhances patient safety, aids caregivers in scheduling their day around the patients' needs, and promotes greater autonomy
Photo from private album, South of France
What is Alzheimer’s?
Alzheimer's is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behaviour. Symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time, becoming severe enough to interfere with daily tasks.
Overwhelming not only for people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s but also families and caregivers report experiencing day-to-day high levels of stress.
Why design a mobile aid for Alzheimer’s?
A mobile app like Appheimer has the potential to positively impact individuals with Alzheimer's in the beginning stage, by aiding in daily routine management, anxiety reduction, improving safety, ultimately leading to a significant enhancement in their overall quality of life despite their diagnosis.
At its core, design is about considering others, with a dedication to improving the lives of individuals, especially those facing disadvantages, in the simplest and most accessible manner possible.
Overview
By designing primarily for user needs and creating an uncontested market space, the possibility to tap into a new market demand is much higher.
Objective
- Creating a daily aid for Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers
- Integrating caregivers into the app
- Designing a clear and intuitive user interface
Challenge
- Identifying the end user
- Discovering main needs
- Reducing knowledge needed to complete key objectives
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B2C | Health Tech
Mobile app
Non profit
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Product Strategy
User Research
Product Design
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2018 - 1st Prototype
2022 - 2023 revisited
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Product Strategy | Business Design
Blue Ocean Strategy
Target Group - Market Research
User Research
External Alzheimer’s data analysis
Persona Building
User Interviews
Color Psychology
Product Design
User Stories
Information Architecture
User Flow
Prototyping
A/B testing
User Research
Incorporating user research; market analysis, and quantitative user data into the UX design process is essential because it ensures that the design is rooted in a deep understanding of user needs, preferences, and pain points.
This data-driven approach helps validate assumptions, prioritize features, and create solutions that effectively solve real user problems, leading to user-friendly products that are more likely to succeed and satisfy the target audience while reducing the risk of costly design errors.
Millennial caregivers
About one out of six millennial caregivers is caring for someone with dementia, with an average age of 27 years.
Most millennial dementia caregivers (84%) do not live in the same household with the person they care for, and 16% had to travel more than an hour to provide care.
The most common caregiving activities include helping with transportation (79%), shopping (76%), and communicating with health care professionals (70%).
One-third of millennial dementia caregivers said their responsibilities severely impacted their work. Some were fired or forced to cut back their hours. Nearly 80% of young caregivers said it was very difficult to access outside help they could afford.
Technology use among seniors
Smartphone adoption since 2013 among older adults who live in households earning $75,000 or more a year has increased by 39%.
Four-in-ten seniors now own smartphones, more than double the share that did so in 2013.
It is thought that the use of mobile technologies to offer cognitive support could generalize to assist not only people living with dementia but also people experiencing similar cognitive limitations due to illnesses or disabilities such as stroke, mental illness, brain injury, and physical or sensory disability.
Fifteen studies concerned smartphone and tablet training interventions. In all these studies, participants were able to learn to use smartphones and tablets, and participants’ overall experiences were extremely positive
Personas
The primary objective of personas in the initial stages of product discovery was to pinpoint the core needs of the target audience and construct profiles for potential future users.
These personas served as a guide for recruiting a representative sample for user interviews (which unfortunately remain unpublished due to interruptions caused by Covid restrictions).
Photo by Aaron Andrew Ang on Unsplash
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Age 67, Retired Engineer, married
Last year, Philipp was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s (Stage 3, mild decline). Only one of his children lives near and is co-caregiving together with Philipp’s wife.
Although aware of his diagnose, Philipp still wants to preserve his daily autonomy and delay co-dependance for as long as possible.
He loves spending his days playing chess and taking long walks with his family.
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• Introvert
• Observant
• Funny
• Stubborn
• Realistic
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• Smartphone and tablet owner
• Active on Whatsapp and other messaging apps
• Using smartphone for messaging, calling, taking photos and browsing the internet
• Basic technology knowledge
• Average screen time: 3h x day
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01 Preserving autonomy over his daily habits and routine
02 Remembering important tasks and events
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01 Navigating through memory lapses
02 Longer learning curve
03 Synchronising and automating tasks and appointments with his environment to notify family members when faced with distress
Photo by Jenny Ueberberg on Unsplash
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Age 32, Head of Marketing, engaged
Diana doesn’t live in the same home as her father Philipp, she lives about half an hour away from her parents home. Her younger brother is still in college, living in another city.
Since Phlipp’s diagnose, there is slowly a role reversal that causes emotional distress.
Her main worry is how to continue supporting her both parents, prolonging her fathers stay-at-home before the disease progresses. As well as the impact it will have on her work as she was recently promoted to head of marketing, bearing more responsibilities for others at work.
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• Extrovert
• Observant
• Stubborn
• Friendly
• Optimist
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• MacBook, Smartphone and tablet owner for both personal and work use
• Using smartphone for social media (instagram & LinkedIn), main communication device, reading news and staying organised
• Fluency and comfort with technology
• Average screen time: 12h x day (3/4 due to work)
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01 Monitoring Philipp’s safety
02 Mitigating daily tasks and events
03 Incorporating external help or solutions if needed
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01 Coordinating Philipp’s events with her work schedule
02 Struggling to focus on positive outcomes
03 Lacking resources designed with young caregivers and their needs in mind
Using user stories in product development drives a more effective and user-friendly product by aligning with user needs, promoting iterative design, and responding to real-world feedback.
User Stories
“As Philipp, I want to remember who I can call in case I forget.”
“As a family, we want to share responsibilities between each other to take proper care of Philipp.”
“As Diana, I want to be able to reach my father in case he gets lost.”
“As Philipp, I want to be reminded about important appointments.”
“As Diana, I want to be well prepared in case emergencies occur.”
“As Philipp, I want to continue going on my daily walks and playing chess.”
“As Diana, I want to help my father prolong his daily autonomy to enjoy his daily life.”
“As Philip, I don’t want to become a daily burden to my family.”
“As Diana, I want to adapt my schedule to my father’s appointments to gain more clarity in my daily life.”
Outcome
Appheimer supports caregivers in overseeing the entire mobile app and its functions, while Alzheimer's patients primarily focus on accessing the reminder function.
This results in a user-friendly interface with easy navigation via the tab navigation bar, which includes Calendar, Reminder, and Emergency features.
FEATURES
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Each Reminder is placed by daily priority.
Adding relevant notifications reminds Alzheimer’s patients of important tasks to be completed and allows caregivers to maintain a structured and clear daily overview.
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The caregiver can add, edit patients tasks and events to the appheimer calendar, as well as sync with his personal calendar.
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When an Alzheimer’s patient taps on Emergency, the caregiver receives a notification on his phone, informing him of the Alzheimer’s patient current location and distance.
The caregiver can call the Alzheimer’s patient or travel to his location as well as continue to track his steps in real time.
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Night (dark) mode is beneficial for Alzheimer’s patients who suffer from light sensitivity and visual impairment because it prepares them to mentally transition from day to night as well as reminding them of regular evening habits.
Having a consistent daily routine can help prolong Alzheimer’s progress and aid in patients daily safety.
Reminder
Calendar
Emergency
Night Mode
Key Takeaways
Product longevity
After Alzheimer’s progresses beyond stage 5; moderate dementia, the app won’t be effective for patients and their caregivers, because all day monitoring and intense care through-out Alzheimer’s patient daily life will be required. During these last stages, elderly patients don’t use smartphones on their own.
Pairing with other devices
Adding a smartwatch design was an option from the beginning, however I decided to focus on smartphone because they are already available to all. In theory pairing appheimer with a smartwatch could provide additional guidance.
Discovery
By revisiting the user research process, I made the discovery to re-direct the previous end user (Alzheimer’s patients) to caregivers. It’s critical for caregivers to stay in the loop because they care for, plan and guide Alzheimer’s patients schedule.
Motivation
I’ve recognised this as an opportunity to refine my mixed methods approach as well as conceptualise a product that captures a unique market value proposition.
Finding a niche allowed me to put more care and thought into designing features that solve problems and using technology that is available to all i.e. smartphones.