COLLEGE STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH

The project eventually resulted in an APP design designed to help college students correctly understand mental health and how they can seek out mental health services.

Assessing mental health perceptions and support for college students.

SCOPE

User Research

UI/UX Design

MY ROLE

UI/UX

Data analysis and processing

THE GOAL

1. Simplify the process of seeing a doctor and adjust their mental health in daily life.

2. Let students know scientific, professional mental health knowledge and methods

THE CHALLENGE

1. Complex and inefficient appointment process.

2. Mental health information comes from a variety of sources, many of them are incorrect

1. DEFINE

IS THERE A MARKET FOR THE PRODUCT？

《THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON COLLEGE STUDENT WELL-BEING》- American College Health Association and Healthy Minds Network

The incidence of mental health problems among U.S. college students has been increasing over time. From 2000 to 2018, the rate of students ever diagnosed with depression rose from 10.3% to 23.8%. Similarly, those diagnosed or treated for psychological issues in the past 1-2 months increased from 19.1% in 2009 to 30.2% in 2018, a 58% rise. Furthermore, the coronavirus outbreak worsened the situation, with depression rates rising from 35.7% in fall 2019 to 40.9% in spring 2020.

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS？

Early in our analysis, we realized that the student would be at our inquiry's center. It was then a case of mapping out the relationships that are close to them and affect them directly and the other relationships that they benefit from or are affected by.

2. DISCOVER

We needed to approach the problem in multiple ways in order to get the richest data possible. These are the methods we chose to do that.

A.SURVEY

Research Scope: 34 Students

B. INTERVIEWS

Research Scope

4 SUBJECT EXPERTS 11 COLLEGE STUDENTS

2 VIRTUAL EVENTS 3 STUDENT LEADERS

Participant Characteristics

We chose to focus on the SVA campus as a starting point for our primary research. We spoke with two staff from the Student Health & Counseling Services office at SVA. We also interviewed two experts from two national mental health organizations that work with college student populations. 

Students’ Age

First Year Undergraduate

Second Year Undergraduate

Senior Year Undergraduate

First Year Graduate

1.Graffiti Wall (Physical & Digital)

We put up the Physical Graffiti Wall in two locations - both the east and west locations, as we wanted to target a larger body of students. For the east location, we put up the graffiti wall and spent over 5 hours at the student center in the east building. In the west location, we put up the graffiti wall at the DSI studio and let the students interact with us and how they did.

 2. Data Synthesis

We compare the different categories of observations to extract a theme, which is a description of a related set of observations to help us derive and analyze insights.

3. Persona

From our data analysis, we started to notice some themes emerge and created five student personas based on the data. This graph here shows the level of mental health support needed against the number of barriers a student may face to accessing support (whether that be professional support at school or externally).

 4. User Journey Map

3. DESIGN

1. INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE&WIRE FRAME

3.HIGH FIDELITY

Welcome page

ACCESSIBILITY

In consideration of users' privacy concerns, we offer a skip option, users can get a preview of what the app will look like without entering personal information.

Home page

Daily mood records can generate user-specific psychological analysis reports

Find a Doctor

In addition to professional customization, we also provide filter to meet the different user habits

Tools

6 different tools to help users treat mental health

Profile

Integrate favorite tips and events into liked to make it easier for users to find the content they are interested in

4.DESIGN GUIDELINES

5.TAKEAWAYS & NEXT STEPS

TAKEAWAYS

To design a successful product, we must focus on the specific needs and preferences of our target audience.

By thoroughly understanding and addressing these unique requirements, we can create more engaging and effective solutions, leading to higher user satisfaction and greater overall success for the product.