Overview
Look After is a mobile app concept designed to support parents who are experiencing postpartum depression (PPD). PPD is a common mental health condition that affects many new parents. Look After provides knowledge and resources to help parents navigate through this difficult time. The app offers a range of features, including articles on PPD, resources for finding support groups and therapists, and tools to track mood and symptoms. It also includes a community forum where parents can connect with others who are going through similar experiences. With Look After, parents can feel empowered to seek the help they need and receive the support they deserve.
Challenge
The concept my peers and I decided to work on is an app dedicated to providing information and knowledge regarding Post-Partum Depression. We chose this topic as we know PPD is very common to occur after giving birth but is not spoken about enough between patients and health care providers. Additionally, people that have experienced PPD either hide their experience due to shame or don't understand what they are feeling. The goal was to create a space for new parents to find easy and reliable information regarding PPD. This was including but not limited to: nutrition, mood tracker, cited sources and an anonymous community to share experiences.
It was important for the information shared and sources used to be reliable and as accurate as possible. After copious amounts of research, we concluded that applications within the app store regarding PPD tend to not be reliable. We found from a study “Tinius, Rachel A., et al. "An assessment of mobile applications designed to address physical activity during pregnancy and postpartum." International Journal of Exercise Science 14.7 (2021): 382.” That there are over 700 apps with the tags of pregnancy/postpartum, of which it was found that only 54 were quasi useful. Another interesting point is that the overall MARS score for these apps was a 0.94 out of 5. This was more data that helped us solidify our ideas of what was needed from an app with this intention.
The goal was to create a resource for parents to look to for information regarding life after pregnancy for the parent who gave birth along with having the ability to track their moods daily to gauge their day to day more effectively. After our research we also found a key factor in PPD come from nutrition or lack thereof so we felt it was imperative to include a section that offered recipes that were nourishing for the parent that gave birth. From another study “Noble, Jessica, et al. "“I Gave Birth”—An Initiative to Improve Postpartum Care." North Carolina Medical Journal 84.1 (2023).” We found that approximately two out of three pregnancy related deaths occur during the first 42 days postpartum, and that maternal health is intimately interconnected with infant health.
Design Thinking
Empathize
Who are we empathizing with? Parents that have experienced PPD, partners and family members that want to be more informed/knowledgeable about PPD.
What do they need to do? They need to know more about PPD and have more robust conversations with healthcare providers and family about their symptoms.
What do they see? Other mom’s that are “not” experiencing what they are, poor quality applications for PPD that cost $$$, healthcare providers not taking the time to formally inform new parents about the potential for PPD.
What do they say? That they feel alone/isolated. They feel guilty for feeling the emotions they do. That they are unaware of their feelings and why it is happening.
What do they do? They hide/suppress their emotions or seek guidance from a healthcare professional/someone close.
What do they hear? Beautiful expectations about life after pregnancy, lack of transparency behind the potential of PPD.
User Persona
Define
Problem Statement:
In general there is a lack of awareness/resources surrounding PPD. When looking through app stores for a solution, you’re left with low quality apps that charge for their “services”. With these limited tools, parents are subjected to navigating through these hardships alone.
Hypothesis:
We believe that by creating an app focused on PPD education and resources, we can help people prevent / cope with this prevalent, yet often “hidden”, condition.
Ideate
