DESIGN RESEARCH METHODOLOGY // TASK 1 - 4

 

29.8.2022 - 04.12.2022 (Week 1 - Week 14)

Ang Shin Er / 0355231 

Bachelor Of Design (Hons) In Creative Media / Taylor's University

Design Research Methodology // Task 1-4

---

INSTRUCTION

This module, which is Design Research Methodology, requires students to be familiar with basic research methods related to design. The student was assigned to complete the 4 parts of this research. First is a research proposal, then continue with a critical review, primary data, and research reflection report.

| Research Proposal 20% - Individual

Draft 1

ANG SHIN ER 0355231(UIUX) DRM RES60604 AUG-DEC2022 PROJECT 1 _ RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Research Topic : User interface (UI) design for children and youth Research Problem : User interface (UI) design that can affect the mental health and well-being of children and young people (age: 4-18) in the digital age

Research Rationale : Nearly half of the world's population is connected to the internet. Today's kids and teens spend a lot of time online and on social media, but the information available on digital resources for mental health and wellbeing is still lacking. Many of the UI designs for mental health and wellness reviewed had issues with content, social interaction, user engagement, and visuals. The UI designer of websites and applications for children and young people who are concerned with mental health and well-being should pay more attention to focus on a smaller target audience while offering more possibilities. Instead of "designing for children and young people," it could be divided into more specific age groups, such as preschool (3-6 years old), children (7-12 years old) and adolescents (13-18 years old). Each age has distinct behavioural, physical, and cognitive capacities, and users become more tech-savvy when they grow. In order to make user interfaces (UIs) more suitable for children and young people, initiatives such as creating websites, apps and games should be designed more carefully. This may contribute to the intrinsic motivation of children and young people to improve potential outcomes for achieving mental health and well-being.

Problem Statement: When creating user interfaces, it is important to consider both the viewpoints of children and young people and their unique traits. Furthermore, UI design is not only about adjusting the interfaces, it is about creating a better user experience. However, helpful user interfaces (UIs) enable children and young people to engage in activities such as developing and sharing their own work and creations, which is beneficial for their social and personal development. While spending a lot of time online, children face various difficulties because of their cognitive and physical limits. With some poor UI design, such as slow and clunky interaction, complicated and unreadable content, confusing layout, inconsistent design and dark and ugly colour-scheme for children will also affect the mental health and well-being of children and young people It's important to remember that while creating any heuristics for a child's UI design, the child's intellectual, mental, and social skills are still developing. Young people's websites and mobile applications should be designed with their age group in mind and should have an aesthetic that follows the latest technological trends. Avoid using visuals that are too simple because it could come out as less interesting, but also avoid using visuals that are too complex since it might make the information difficult to understand. It is crucial to understand that everyone, whether they are children, teenagers, or adults, requires information that is produced expressly for their age group and given through an easy-to-use user interface (UI). Research Objective :

• To study how to create a better user experience from the mental health and well-being point of view for users between 4 to 18 years old through UI design.
• Identifying the visuals used in UI design can assist children and young people who are still developing intellectual, mental, and social skills.

Research Question :

• How does UI design affect the mental health and well-being of children and young people?
• What kind of a good UI design can engage children and young people in activities that benefit their social and personal development?

Draft 2

Research Problem: User interface (UI) design that can affect the mental health and well-being of children and young people (age: 4-18) in the digital age Research Rationale :

Many of the UI designs for mental health and wellness reviewed had issues with content, social interaction, user engagement, and visuals. Instead of "designing for children and young people," it could be divided into more specific age groups, such as preschool (3-6 years old), children (7-12 years old) and adolescents (13-18 years old). Each age has distinct behavioral, physical, and cognitive capacities.

When creating user interfaces, it is important to consider both the viewpoints of children and young people and their unique traits. Furthermore, UI design is not only about adjusting the interfaces, it is about creating a better user experience. However, helpful user interfaces (UIs) enable children and young people to engage in activities such as developing and sharing their own work and creations, which is beneficial for their social and personal development.

Problem Statement : While spending a lot of time online, children face various difficulties because of their cognitive and physical limits. Some poor UI designs, such as slow and clunky interaction, complicated and unreadable content, confusing layout, inconsistent design, and dark and ugly colour-scheme for children will also affect the mental health and well-being of children and young people. It's important to remember that while creating any heuristics for a child's UI design, the child's intellectual, mental, and social skills are still developing. Research Objectives :

• Identifying the visuals used in UI design can assist children and young people who are still developing intellectual, mental, and social skills.
• To study how to create a better user experience from the mental health and well-being point of View for users between 4 to 18 years old through UI design.

Research Questions :

• How does UI design affect the mental health and well-being of children and young people?
• What kind of a good UI design can engage children and young people in activities that benefit their social and personal development?

Draft 3 (final revised)

RESEARCH TOPIC : User Experience (UX) design for young people

Research Rationale :

Now nearly half of the world's population is connected to the internet.Today's young people spend a lot of time on digital technology, when working, on social media, or online video and music. Most people in this age group (18-20) are college students or just entering the industry, and most of them are under a lot of pressure. Research shows that, start by the mid-20s, 75% of the mental-health disorders is begin by young people. (Sohn E.,2022) Although research on the impact of UX design on mental health is in its early stages, excellent design is accessible and accommodates a wide range of baselines. A confused user experience might cause anxiety, repetitious activities can increase stress; and an avalanche of warnings can ruin a productive workday for someone with an attention deficit. (Botha D., 2021) In order to make user experience (UX) more suitable for young people, initiatives such as creating websites, apps and games should be designed more carefully. Designers can help by fixing a few key pain points in knowledge work to improve potential outcomes for achieving mental health and well-being. (Danae B.,2021) 

Problem Statement : Young people are the digital natives, who grew up in the midst of technological advancements will spending a lot of time online. Sometime they might face various difficulties because of some poor UX design, such as slow and clunky interaction and confusing flow. (Berry,R.S.,2020) People abandon websites that are difficult to use or they become confused. When users meet a problem, leaving is the first line of defence.(Nielsen J.,2022) It is important to consider the viewpoints of young people, when creating a better user experience. Usability issues in UX design for mental health is a must to consider. The purpose of the UX design for mental health is to minimize the worse symptoms of mental illness, although the internet seems to be a potential source of mental health resources, but the digital resources is not always properly aimed at helping individuals with mental illness. According to studies, resources that can let people who are facing mental problem access more limited than people might think. Many of them lack of creating a positive experience for all users (Gibson C., 2019) A poor interface design for mental health purpose might affect the user experience and does not help young people who suffering from mental health and well-being. Interface that designed for their age group is outdated and not aesthetic that follows the latest technological trends, such as less interested color palettes. Some of them using the visuals that are not related or too complex,it might make the information difficult to understand and could confused users and come out as less interesting. (Gomez M. E., 2022 )

Research Objectives :

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a mental health mobile app for young people
• To study how mental health apps create a better user experience for young people.

Research Questions :

• How does UX design affect the mental health and well-being of young people?
• What usability Issues in mental health applications for young people

Final proposal :

______

| Individual - Critical Review 20%

The finalise article that choose :

1. O'Grady C. Melia R. ,Bogue J. ,O'Sullivan M. ,Young K. ,Duggan J. (2020). A Mobile Health Approach for Improving Outcomes in Suicide Prevention
   https://www.jmir.org/2020/7/e17481/
   
   

2. Wong H.W. ,Lo B. ,Shi J. ,Hollenberg E. ,Alexxa Abi-Jaoude A. ,Johnson A. ,Chaim G. Cleverley K. ,Henderson J. ,Levinson A. ,Robb J. ,Voineskos A. ,Wiljer D.(2021) Postsecondary Student Engagement With a Mental Health App and Online Platform (ThoughtSpot): Qualitative Study Assessing Factors Related to User Experience
   https://mental.jmir.org/2021/4/e23447?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=JMIR_TrendMD_0
   
   

3. Hetrick S. E., Robinson J., Burge E., Blandon R., Mobilio R., Simon M., Simmons M. B., Mario A., Simon G., Christopher G. (2018). Youth Codesign of a Mobile Phone App to Facilitate Self-Monitoring and Management of Mood Symptoms in Young People With Major Depression, Suicidal Ideation, and Self-Harm
   https://mental.jmir.org/2018/1/e9/
   
   

4. Bergin, A. D., Vallejos, E. P., Davies, E. B., Daley, D., Ford, T., Harold, G., Hetrick, S., Kidner, M., Long, Y., Merry, S., Morriss, R., Sayal, K., Sonuga-Barke, E., Robinson, J., Torous, J., & Hollis, C. (2020). Preventive digital mental health interventions for children and young people: a review of the design and reporting of research.
   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-00339-7
   
   

5. Rickard, N., Arjmand, H.-A., Bakker, D., & Seabrook, E. (2016). Development of a Mobile Phone App to Support Self-Monitoring of Emotional Well-Being: A Mental Health Digital Innovation.
   https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.6202‌

---

Introduction :

Mental issues are common among young people, especially at the age group (18-20) who are going to step into a new environment. Treatment for individuals with mental illnesses now includes more than just face-to-face psychiatric help; mobile applications or online tools have the ability to prevent mental diseases in young people. One major problem is discovering how to create an effective UX design that is acceptable to young people using mobile technology. However, most of these solutions have less ideal user engagement in real life situations, which might limit the long-term efficiency and usability of these technologies. Following that, it is important to analyse all the collected information and study how applications help in mental health and create a better user experience for young people.

Summary :

The motivation for this research is to create a better user experience for mental health apps for young people. With this, I had to study 5 articles about User Experience (UX) design for the mental health and well-being of young people (age:18-20) in the digital age, which is the topic of my research.There are 2 articles is about how mental health apps improving the prevention of suicide and mental illness,which is “A Mobile Health Approach for Improving Outcomes in Suicide Prevention” and “Preventive digital mental health interventions for children and young people: a review of the design and reporting of research.” , while these 2 articles, which is “Youth Codesign of a Mobile Phone App to Facilitate Self-Monitoring and Management of Mood Symptoms in Young People With Major Depression, Suicidal Ideation, and Self-Harm” and “ Development of a Mobile Phone App to Support Self-Monitoring of Emotional Well-Being: A Mental Health Digital Innovation.”, are about how apps facilitate or support Self-Monitoring and Management of Mood. However, this article is more focused on how young people engage with mental health apps, which is “Postsecondary Student Engagement With a Mental Health App and Online Platform (ThoughtSpot): Qualitative Study Assessing Factors Related to User Experience”.

Discussion :

A mobile health application approaches that can improve suicide prevention

From the first article, a study was done to create a mobile app called Safeplan that would help users to get mental health support and plan for their safety. This app's usability was tested with a group of young people. From here I found what kind of usability was positive in the group of young people. First is the overall UI design and how much the app developer emphasizes user confidentiality.  Privacy and data security are the most common issues of widely known health apps. Since the beginning of SafePlan's development, these problems have been taken care of by making sure that all user data is stored locally on their own devices and by giving users the option to protect the app with a password. 

Even though most of the reviews were good, there were some things the app could do better. Some users found the amount of information and features in the app to be tricky when they first used it. Some people thought that an introductory tutorial video for first-time users would be a great way to show them how the app works and what it can be used for. On this point, it's also important to note that the users didn't fully reflect on daily use. Most people who use the app are likely to have a healthcare provider show them how to use it, which could help clear up any confusion they might have at first. Other users suggested that the app can push up notifications every morning with motivational messages or relaxing videos.

Designing an application for mental health through usability testing helped to develop a clinically informed, user-friendly mobile app, more understanding of patients who have suicidal thoughts or actions will provide users with much greater insight. This is extremely important for tracking a user's long-term interactions with the app, which regularly maintains and updates their data within the app. It can be convenient for both the user and their doctor.

Factors that influenced young people to engage with a Mental Health App

Study or work were among the few factors that highlighted young people's attitudes, behaviours, engagement and user experience when using mobile apps for mental health. Comprehensiveness and usefulness of app content, user experience, interaction with other apps, supportive social interactions, and behaviour were identified as variables that influenced participant engagement. These factors appear to influence teenage students' desire to use a mental health app for help and to use it in the future.

From the second article I found that, the factors that can be categorised into five themes appear to affect user engagement. Firstly, useful experiences were linked to whether the app provided mental health information that users felt straightforward, inclusive, relevant to their needs, and featured important facts. Users' desire to engage with the app and utilise it to assist their mental health appeared to be reduced when they were dissatisfied. The user experience and interaction with other applications was a second focus connected to engagement. Despite technological challenges and a lack of integration, some participants were still prepared to interact, if they thought it would benefit them. Third, some users were inspired to interact with mental health apps in order to help friends and family who required mental health care. The fourth was the use of crowdsourced data. Some users viewed comments on the app about the services and features that others had used for mental health. Fifth, some users utilise it when they need urgent mental health information. These offer crucial insights into the factors that affect how young people interact with mobile apps while looking for assistance with mental health difficulties. (Wong et al.,2021) 

Why mobile phone application designed to support self-monitoring of emotional wellbeing for young people

This article is about the codesign process, method, and results of making an app-based self-monitoring tool for young people with major depression who are getting clinical treatment in person. And, it shows that up to 25% of young people have a depressive disorder, which is the most common disease in young people around the world. Without treatment, people are more likely to develop more mental health problems and problems in work and social situations. Importantly, people with depressive disorders are more likely to have suicidal thoughts and act on them.Early intervention is important, and clinical practise guidelines recommend cognitive behavioural therapy or interpersonal therapy as first-line treatments.

There are a lot of apps that can track your mood, but with a few notable exceptions, most of them have not been tested for their safety and effectiveness. (Hetrick S,et al., 2017) This has been pointed out as a major problem with most apps that help with mental health problems . Apps to prevent suicide are also starting to show up on the market .  There are a number of suggestions coming out about what features suicide prevention apps should have. These include things like immediate access to crisis helplines, a "hope box" (Bush et al., 2014), comprehensive safety planning and automated interventions.  Some recommendations also say that the app should be able to be customised, that the colours used should be thought about, and that it should be easy to use. But so far, not many apps have combined self-monitoring of mood and suicidal thoughts with brief interventions, like those that are recommended for suicide prevention apps. 

Preventive digital mental health interventions(DHIs) for children and young people

Digital health interventions (DHIs) have been widely emphasised as one method of reacting to increasing levels of mental health problems in young people. The fourth article scoping review shows that DHIs aren't living up to their full potential yet, and the way research is designed and reported doesn't usually help it be used in the real world. 

The main purpose of DHIs is to provide cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) as a form of depression and anxiety prevention. CBT is the recommended treatment for depression and anxiety in young people and the most studied offline intervention for depression and anxiety. Fewer interventions tried to improve people's general health and happiness, which suggests that researchers may be more likely to make interventions based on existing clinical guidelines, even though interventions that didn't involve technology were more effective at improving people's general happiness. 

Preventive DHIs can be given in different ways, in terms of when, where, and how people can get them. But different settings may present different challenges and chances that make it hard for people or those doing the delivering to benefit. The review found that few studies talked about factors related to implementation. This is a big problem because it means we don't know how to best use DHIs to help keep young people from getting mental illnesses. There are two main things that need to be fixed, which is a systemic understanding of how technical problems can be solved or helped, and making sure that the content of the programme is relevant not only to young people but also to those who help them use it, such as parents and teachers. It is also important to think about where these DHIs might be used in the real world. 

In order for interventions to be sustainable, they need to be designed, built, and tested within a framework for implementation. Accessibility in the real world was hard to figure out because many interventions are only available in certain countries or languages, and the costs of getting to them are not always clear. Even though DHIs have a great deal of potential to be used by a lot of people, our review shows that software isn't always kept up-to-date and that existing interventions don't always take advantage of new developments that could make preventive interventions more accurate.(Bergin et al., 2020)

Considerations when developing a mental health app based on research

The development of mental health apps is a relatively young field, and guidelines to support researchers and app developers have not yet become widespread. The fifth article is describing the development of an application called MoodPrism, which brought some important issues that could help researchers who are making apps for mental health research and practice. 

To begin, it's critical to understand that app developers and researchers have different goals in it.  For example, the main goals of the MoodPrism researchers were to make sure that the database was accurate, and that sensitive information was handled in an honest way. The main goals of the app's developers were to provide an enjoyable experience to use, a simple user interface, and store data secretly. The researchers wanted to keep the psychometric properties of the questionnaires, but the app developers wanted to make sure the app was easy to use and looked good. 

Second, allow appropriate time when starting planning and completing beta testing and making adjustments. If there is no figuration of the needs of the app's function from the start, it can lead to features that are too easy to add and then delays in revising the app to meet research needs. Spending time upfront to show app developers the whole app's content in a clear way will help avoid major delays during development. In the beginning, there should also be enough time for complete storyboarding and wireframing of the app, so that both parties can agree on the app's layout and look.  Giving enough time for planning should also make sure that clear timeline dates are set, after which researchers and practitioners can't make any more changes or add any more content until the trial. Changes that keep happening can add to delays and make it hard to tell which version of an app is being delivered. It's also important to give the app enough time when it's finished. Users should have a long enough trial period to test the app in different situations, and the schedule should make sure that they can give feedback both on their own and, if possible, as a group. Focus groups are a great way to figure out what users have in common and what makes their experiences unique. 

Third, there should be a central place to handle communication between application developers and researchers. The progress of tasks should be checked frequently and updates should be provided if longer checks are required. When tasks are clearly assigned, they are less likely to be forgotten and people can take responsibility. Importantly, it's helpful to get opinions on different parts of the application, such as how it looks and works, and which parts are most important to researchers. (Rickard et al., 2016)

Conclusion :
To sum up, each of the five articles that were listed above is instructive as well as helpful for the upcoming research process that I will be working on. The articles covered a wide range of topics, including how mental health apps can help in the prevention of mental illness and suicide, how apps can help in self-monitoring and emotional management, and how young people are utilizing mental health applications. While reading the articles, there were some similar issues, including a lack of real-world user engagement, the significance of clinical practice in this area, and the lack of support for researchers and app developers of mental health apps.After reading these articles, I will definitely understand the topic better. However, it is acceptable that research publications lack references because the field of a study investigating the effects of UX design on mental health is still in the early stages

Final PDF file :

____

| Primary Research 20%

Research Overview 

Research Problem : 

• User Experience (UX) design for the mental health and well-being of young people (age:18-20) in the digital age 

Research Questions : 

• What design of mental health apps can create a better user experience for young people? 
• How does the efficacy of a mental health mobile app benefit young people? 

Research Objectives : 

• To study how mental health apps create a better user experience for young people. 
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a mental health mobile app for young people

Research Methodologies 

Qualitative Methodology : Online interview  

Quantitative Methodology : Questionnaire  

Online Interview

Online interviews are one of the methods to collect data in which an interviewer asks the interviewee questions. Understanding what participants say during an interview is the primary goal (Bonevski et al., 2014). Its could provide interviewees with some time to consider their answers or review their past experiences (James et al., 2009)

• What? An interview will be carried out for 3 young people who are using mental health and are between the ages of 18 and 20. The 3 young people will be asked questions about how the apps influence their life.
• Why? To study how users think about a better user experience of mental health apps.
• Who? 3 young people who using mental health between the ages of 18 and 20
• How? It will be conducted online via whatsapp or email and will ask them questions that have been prepared (structured interview).
• Where? There is no specific location, they are conducted online.
• When? As soon as possible.

Advantages : 

• Savings of costs
• Flexibility venue
• Able to choose a more suitable person without concern for the venue and time

Disadvantages :

• May take some time to wait for the responses.
• Not sure if the recipient is the one who actually finished it and returned it. (Wright, 2017)

Interviewees

• Khor Kai Jie : A worker in age: 20, (using Clamood apps) 
• Wong Pey Xuan : A university student in age: 18 (using “静乐” apps)
• Sze Ming  : A form 6 student in age 19 who stress in STPM (using Plus vibe apps) 

All of these people have experience as users of mental health and wellbeing apps and are therefore excellent candidates for this online interview

Question ( the answer order going by : Khor Kai Jie, Wong pey xuan, Sze Ming )

1 ; To find out how people think the effectiveness of the mental health mobile app

2 ; To find out why people in age 18-20 start to use the mental health app

3: To find out if mental health apps are effective in helping young people recover their mental health

4: To figure out what features of a mental health app can attract users

5.To know what is required to develop useful and convenient mental health apps for young people

6.To determine whether the mental health app is useful in tracking or monitoring users’ mental health.

7.To determine whether people can trust mental health apps with their personal information.

8.To figure out how people think mental health apps bring out in the future life

9.To figure out the blind spot of a mental health app and the challenge that the user would face.

Interviewees think that mental health apps are really needed in their daily life, to reduce their stress and help them, and it's a great innovation to know yourself. As a user, they will look at how user friendly the application is and what kind of features are provided by the app, and might also look into the review given by other users first, before they choose to use this mental health application. Even though the 3 interviewees didn't face any data leakage yet, they are still concerned about it.

Questionnaire 

A questionnaire is solely concerned with the set of questions that are given to participants in order to elicit responses and gather information, which is subsequently analysed and interpreted. (Cleave, 2021) 

• What? This questionnaire will include various questions about mobile applications and mental health and will send it to public.
• Why? To study how the public thinks about the usability of a mental health app and what is the result that came out that might help young people in preventing mental illness.
• Who? Who have a connection to young people between the ages of 18 and 20.
• How? It will be conducted online through the google form and share it via any social media platform Where? There is no specific location, they are conducted online.
• When? As soon as possible.

Participant Demographic

The first phrase of this questionnaire is to know who is participating this survey.  For the first question is to ask for the respondents' names. Then, in terms of age group, understand the demographic of this specific research.

Out of 93 respondents: 60 peoples is who in between the ages of 18 and 20 (64.5%), 21 peoples is who in between the ages of 18 and 20 (22.6%), 8 people is parent with a child between the ages of 18 and 20 (8.6%), 3 is More than 30(4.4%).

This question seeks to identify how respondents feel about their mental health.

Out of 93 respondents: 3peopls think their mental health is very healthy (3.2%), 7 peoples is rating 2 which good(7.5%), 26 people think is just okay (28%), 37 peoples think is bad, the most among the respondents (39.8%), 20 peoples think is very worst (21.5%).

This question is to understand is the participants were suffering  any mental illness.

Out of 93 respondents: 14 peopls have anxiety disorder before (15.1%) and another 14 have depression  (15.1%), 5 of them have bipolar disorder(5.4%), 8 of them have PTSD (8.6%), 3 of them have schizophrenia(3.2%), 14 of them have disruptive behavior and dissocial disorders(15.1%), 2 of the is suffering neurodevelopmental disorder (2.2%), 9 of them prefer not to say(9.7%), 52 of them not facing any mental illness which is the most among the respondents (55.9%)

About mental health applications

In 2nd section is aimed to know are people understand about mental health application.

Out of 93 respondents: Most of them know about the existing of mental health application. (75.3%), 8 peoples dont know about this (8.6%), and 15 of them they might know this application (16.1%).

User of mental health app

In 3rd section is aimed to find out how many participants are using mental health application.

Out of 85 respondents: 52 of them are using mental health application. (60%), 32 peoples dont know about this (37.6%), and 2 of them they prefer not to answer (2.4%).

The mental health apps usage 

In 4th section is only for peoples who are using mental health apps. It is aimed to know how user spend their time to use mental health app in their daily life.

Out of 53 respondents: 44 of them are using mental health application depending on their situation (41.5%), 5 peoples using once a month(9.4%), 9 peoples using a few days of the week (17%), 8 peoples using once a month(15.1%), 7 peoples using multiple times per days(13.2%) ,1 people using once a day (1.9%), and 1 people said that he/she using every hour of the day especially 2am (1.9%).

This question aims to figure out what types of features can improve the user experience when using a mental health app.

Out of 53 respondents: Out of 53 respondents, 25 want a personalized profile (47.2%), 35 which the most participants want self-monitoring (66%), 28 want notifications and reminders (52.8%), 14 want a sharing and live chat feature (26.4%), 19 want a support community (35.8%), and 12 want a connection with the therapist for the patient (22.6%), 25 peoples wish to experience want relaxing exercises (47.2%), 12 peoples wish to experience gamification features (22.6%),20 peoples choose psychoeducation (37.7%), 32 peoples choose emergency support (60.4%), 11 peoples wish to see all of the above added in the apps (20.8%), and 1 person think none of above.

This question is to know how mental health app them them in their daily life.

Out of 53 respondents: 11 peoples think is really help (20.8%), 25 peoples think is almost help them (47.2%), 16 peoples think is average (30.2%), and 1 peoples think is no (1.9%).

This question aims to determine how users perceive the mental health apps that they used.

Out of 53 respondents: 18 of them think is just average (34%), 25 peoples think is almost help them (41.5%), think is just good (30.2%), and 13 peoples think is great enough (24.5%).

This question aims to discover whether the user believes the app is beneficial to young people.

Out of 53 respondents: most of them think its really can helps young people (88.7%), 6 peoples not sure about this can help young people (11.3%).

This is to determine if there are any issues with the application and whether assistance is required.

Out of 53 respondents: 33 of them think it will be challenging for them to use it if without guide  (62.3%), 13 peoples not sure about this (24.5%), and 7peoples think is that is okay without guide (13.2%).

Conclusion 

• The general public believes that mental health applications are a great innovation for young people seeking to relieve stress, working as a "pocket-medicine," and as a way to prevent mental illness. 
• Most users of mental health applications want more advanced features added to the apps they use so that they can assist them in their daily lives more easily. 
• It would be fantastic to design a usable and user-friendly mental health application that combines all of the useful features into a single app.

__

| Research Reflection Report 40%

INTRODUCTION

In this module, which is Design Research Methodology, it requires students to be familiar with basic research methods related to design. Student was assigned to complete the 4 parts of this research. First is a research proposal, then continue with critical review, primary data and research reflection report.

The first task, includes a research topic, a problem statement, research questions, and research objectives. Following that, will be conducting a critical review of relevant papers or articles and a supporting research methodology and data analysis. The final duty is to reflect on the entire study process,as well as carrying out secondary and primary research for her chosen research topic that is related to her specialisation, which is UI UX.

In the final section, the researcher will summarise the strengths and weaknesses of her research findings, as well as the difficulties or challenges that occurred during the process. Include the reasoning behind the decisions taken throughout the research process as well. The original document for each part will be provided, and a summary of the entire experience will be provided at the end of this report. 

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Here is the full version of the research proposal : DRM_Research proposal 1_ Slide

Research Topic :

User Experience (UX) design for young people

Research Problem : 

User Experience (UX) design for the mental health and well-being of young people (age:18-20) in the digital age

The research topic that the researcher have selected for the first part, which is a research proposal, is "User Experience (UX) design for young people." This is due to the fact that today's young peoples are a subgroup of the Millennial generation. The majority of them are digital natives, which means they grew up with digital communications technology. (Moran, 2016).According to the American Psychological Association (APA), people in the 18-33 age group suffer the highest levels of stress (Zauderer, 2022). Thus, the researcher likes to explore User Experience (UX) design for the mental health and well-being of young people, although this age range is quite large. So the researcher focused on a certain age range of 18 to 20. It is because they are a key user group: many of them are pursuing their study or starting careers. They’re starting to earn more money, and they’re comfortable with spending it online. Some are beginning families and purchasing homes. They might face some stress, so It is a reasonable issue that can be investigated throughout these 14 weeks.

While it is true that research on the impact of UX design on mental health is in its early stages, good design is accessible and fits a wide range of baselines. An anxious user experience, repetitive activities, and a barrage of warnings can disrupt a productive workday for the inattentive. (Botha, 2021)

Thinking about what points to include for both the rationale and the problem statement was not difficult for researcher. The researcher has her own viewpoint on the subject and knows what she intends to research. The researcher discovered that young people have the issue of not knowing where to start learning about improving their mental health and getting professional care, because of the high cost and limited accessibility due to family concerns or might have generation gaps. The most difficult aspect was gathering suitable sources to back up her views. After long research, the researcher discovered only a few articles that are relevant to her research topic. Although the materials did not specifically cover the subject of the article, the information provided was helpful in creating the problem statement and providing a clearer study objective.

In this stage, the researcher intends to continue advancing her research efforts. In writing, the researcher made an early suggestion that usability concerns in UX design for mental health be taken into consideration. Because the purpose of UX design for mental health is to reduce the worst symptoms of mental health, and while the internet seems to be a possible source of mental health resources, digital resources are not always effectively focused on assisting those with mental illness. According to studies, the resources available to those suffering from mental illnesses are more limited than people might think. According to later research, users are dissatisfied with the current available mental health application and do not think that it can effectively help those suffering from mental illness in a professional way. As a result, the researcher figured out why young people are always using digital products and not seeking help from mental health applications. And the researcher discovered that none of them provide a great experience for all users (Gibson C., 2019)

The purpose of the Research Objectives/Research Questions is to further clarify the basic intentions stated above, which are from the being about the User Experience (UX) design for the mental health and well-being of young people to how UX design affects young people's mental health and well-being, and as well as usability. The researcher felt like those were the most important objectives/questions to solve problems with mental health apps for young people. These would addressed by the upcoming primary and secondary studies.

The researcher first made some mistakes in the reference list of the research proposal, which is incorrect in the APA 7th edition reference format and defined an objective which is not specific enough. The researcher will keep this in mind to make sure the researcher doesn't make the same mistake in the future. In general, researchers have a strong interest in this topic, because the researcher hope to be a UIUX designer

CRITICAL REVIEW

Here is the full version of the critical review : DRM_TASK2 _Critical Review_ANG SHIN ER 0355231

After submitting the research proposal,the researcher looked through the internet for relevant articles and was only allowed to access Google Scholar, Google, and Taylor's Library. The researcher went through them all and chose five journal articles for further research and analysis, which took quite a lot of time. The majority of the articles identified are either solely concerned with the application design side of it, or the content is oriented toward what causes mental illness and prevention research. But the researcher believe it will also benefit in her future data collecting, and luckily, the researcher discovered a few related articles about the development of mental health apps. Although the journal articles discovered may not be immediately connected, the contents are useful and can be utilised with some critical thinking.

1. A Mobile Health Approach for Improving Outcomes in Suicide Prevention

In this article, a study was conducted to create Safeplan, which is a smartphone app that would assist users in receiving mental health support and planning for their safety. The reason the researcher chose this article is because, from this, the researcher discovered what type of usability was beneficial among a group of young people. They use a focus group method to interview the participant after using the particular apps. It also emphasises how important the first general UI design is and how the app developer places on user anonymity.

It shows the importance of conducting usability testing on a mental health application to assist in the development of a clinically informed, user-friendly mobile app as well as tracking a user's long-term engagements with the app, which keeps and updates their data within the app on a regular basis. The primary study findings of this article provided several answers to her second research question raised in the first section. The authors' methodology motivated the researcher through her own research instrument later and would be suitable and effective for later data collecting.

2. Postsecondary Student Engagement With a Mental Health App and Online Platform (ThoughtSpot): Qualitative Study Assessing Factors Related to User Experience

This article was selected because it discusses the factors that influenced young people to engage with a Mental Health App, which would help to answer the research question that stated above. The factors appear to influence young people’s willingness to utilise a mental health app for help and future use, which included the comprehensiveness and usefulness, user experience, interaction with other apps, supportive social interactions, and behaviour. 

The purpose of this study is to better understand young people's attitudes and actions when they use ThoughtSpot, a co-designed mental health app and online platform, in order to better understand characteristics associated with engagement and user experience. Each section of the article is also clearly separated, its let reader can go through more clearly rather than other research articles. 

3.Youth Codesign of a Mobile Phone App to Facilitate Self-Monitoring and Management of Mood Symptoms in Young People With Major Depression, Suicidal Ideation, and Self-Harm

The third article discusses how to fill the gap between monitoring criteria and real-world practice by co-designing an app with young people that enables for self-monitoring of mood and communication of this monitoring with a doctor. This could help the researcher with her earlier in this section research objective. The article mentioned that up to 25% of young people have a depressive disorder, which is the most common disease in young people around the world,and supported her viewpoint that had stated in her research rationale, which is that most of the mental health starts with young people. Some of the points made by the author definitely helped the researcher in writing an analysis through deduction, especially the authors stated there aren't many apps that combine self-monitoring of mood and suicidal thoughts with brief interventions like those recommended for suicide prevention apps.

4.Preventive digital mental health interventions for children and young people: a review of the design and reporting of research. 

Fourth article is about the preventive digital mental health interventions(DHIs) for children and young people. Although a review shows that digital health interventions (DHIs) aren't yet living up to their full potential, and the way research is designed and reported doesn't always help it be used in the real world, DHIs are still widely emphasised as one method of responding to rising levels of mental health problems in young people. 

And as a result, understanding and incorporating the needs and motivations of both young people and doctors is crucial for achieving favourable outcomes for young people using technology-based solutions.(Bergin et al., 2020)  This might help in her second research objective.

5. Development of a Mobile Phone App to Support Self-Monitoring of Emotional Well-Being: A Mental Health Digital Innovation.

This article aims to describe the development of a mobile phone tool designed to monitor emotional changes in a natural everyday context and in real time. From the article the researcher learned what are the considerations when developing a mental health app based on research to reach her research objective and question above, which is to create a better user experience. The authors argue that the method outlined in this work is a powerful instrument for a variety of possible mental health research and a valuable baseline against which future mental health apps should be developed.(Rickard et al., 2016)

Challenging :

The biggest problem that the researcher in preparing the critical review was deciding which is the most effective content from the reading articles and arranging the review is to summarise. Reading and interpreting the articles was not difficult, but it was difficult to figure out how to begin the review and how it should be completed, especially given the time limits and the need to complete the work of other modules as well. However, producing a critical evaluation helped in analysing the data collected from the articles and in understanding the overall contents of each of the articles, which benefited her study later.

PRIMARY DATA : RESEARCH METHOD

Here is the full version of the primary data :DRM_RESEARCH DESIGN (Primary Research & Findings)_ Slide

In this part, the researcher utilised both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to gather all her primary data. This is due to the fact that a quantitative approach provides a specific statistical figure as proof and enables an easier and more solid review of the whole response to the question through statistical information. A qualitative technique is required because the research aims to reach each individual and it will be good to understand people's perspectives.The research instruments that the researcher have used were Online interview for qualitative research and an online questionnaire for qualitative methodology by using Google Form and sharing it to the public. 

There are some methodologies to use in this research, the various methods like questionnaire, focus group, visual analysis, interview, and other. Deciding which research approach to utilise was not difficult because some examples were provided after reading the five articles from the previous section. Because the research topic is user experience in mental health apps for young people, the researcher would suggest doing a focus group or a questionnaire. And the reason the researcher didn't utilise a focus group as her research instrument was because the researcher couldn't identify 5 people in this age group who used mental health applications. Finally, the researcher decided to run a questionnaire because it is more appropriate for gathering public feedback.

PRIMARY DATA : ONLINE INTERVIEW

This interview will take out three young people between the ages of 18 and 20 who are using a mental health app. The three people will be asked questions regarding how the apps affect their lives. The researcher did the interview online via Whatsapp and email with a Google form link attached, and the researcher will ask them prepared questions. Its goal is to discover how users think about enhancing the user experience of mental health apps.Using this method also has its pros and cons too.

At first, the researcher planned to find 5 young people to participate in her online interview,  but unfortunately the researcher didn't get any reply from another 2 people. After consulting the lecturer, the researcher got permission to proceed with 3 people. This also is the challenge that the researcher have faced during this part. After that the researcher finalised Kai Jie, Sze Ming and Pey Xuan as her interviewees.

After getting feedback from her lecturer, the researcher realized that the question that the researcher had created for the first attempt is quite confusing to her interviewees. The area of the answer that might be given is wide and hard to analyse, her lecturer suggested that the researcher  give a more clearer and specific question, since the researcher is not interviewing experts in this particular industry or might consider switching the direction to interview the experts. The researcher decided to change her question to one that is more suitable to her interviewees, since the researcher has promised to do an online interview with them. Then send it to them after the researcher have modified the question. Every question that has been created has to be mentioned with a purpose, so that it is easier to do analysis later. the researcher have added 9 questions in her online interview, and here are the question that the researcher have :

From the answer, Interviewees think that mental health apps are really needed in their daily life, to reduce their stress and help them, and it's a great innovation to know yourself basically. As a user, they will look at how user friendly the application is and what kind of features are provided by the app, and might also look into the review given by other users first, before they choose to use this mental health application. In question 2, ” why did you make the decision to use a mental health application?” to figure out why people in age 18-20 start to use the mental health app and it can help to support her research rationale that was mentioned in the research proposal. From the Interviewees answers, they need the mental health apps to reduce the stress that they have in their daily life. Interviewees wish to have a live chat with a doctor , who can get a correct answer from a professional and have a mood monitoring and symptoms tracker to identify and track their mood and symptoms. It is to prevent mental illness and it's easier to know themselves without any counselling. 

It might also have some negative effects, such as the result of the apps given sometime might not be 100% correct and might face privacy issues too. Even though the 3 interviewees didn’t face any data leakage yet, they are still concerned about it.

In the end, the 3 interviewees believe that mental health apps can truly assist young people in their daily lives and in the prevention of mental illness. And they mentioned that the general situation is satisfactory if the privacy of mental health apps improved. And, according to Pey Xuan, adding a button to seek professional assistance will be more convenient.

PRIMARY DATA : QUESTIONNAIRE

This questionnaire will include questions about mobile applications and mental health. It is primarily addressed to those who have a connection with young people between the ages of 18 and 20 and will be conducted online using a Google form that can be shared on any social media platform. It is to address the above-mentioned research purpose and question, thinking about how the public perceives the usefulness of a mental health app and what results may benefit young people in preventing mental disease.

At first, the researcher created the wrong questions and sent them to the public. The content of the question is confusing and makes some typing mistakes and it's hard to manage the data. Luckily, the researcher didn't get much enough response yet at that time. After consulting the lecturer, the researcher is going to modify and develop more questions into the survey. The researcher divided the questions into four sections, which is the demographic of the respondes, knowing about mental health applications, the user of the mental health application, and the usage of the mental health apps. There is a mixture of qualitative and quantitative questions in the questionnaire. After the questionnaire is being approved, the researcher has shared this google form link to any social media platform such as, wechat, Instagram, and whatsapp.

Most of the responses are between the ages of 18 and 20 (64.5%). Because it is open to the public, the researcher found out that there are many people in this era who have suffered from some kind of mental illness before, whether it is serious or mild.

In the second  and third section, from the 93 responses, nearly half of them are not engaged in mental health apps, even though most of them are familiar with the mental health application.

For the last section of the questionnaire, it is only for people who use mental health apps. The researcher have added some features options into the question that were suggested by the respondents. The challenge that the researcher has faced is there are only 53 respondents out of 93 that have entered the last section and because the time was packed, the researcher did not have enough time to receive more responses and the researcher will proceed to do data analysis.

PRIMARY DATA : CONCLUSION

To sum up, the researcher observed that the general public believes that mental health applications are a good recommendation for young people looking to reduce stress and prevent mental disease. Most users of mental health apps desire more advanced features added to the apps they use so that they can help them more easily in their daily lives. It would be amazing to create a usable and user-friendly mental health app that includes all of the useful features in a single app.

UX initiatives are focused on making the entire customer journey enjoyable and productive, and includes the feeling that people have when experiencing a product, application, system, or service that is referred to as user experience. While, a mental health application tries to establish a safe environment in which they may gain insight into the community while also providing mental health counselling and expert support. (Abrar, 2021)

REFLECTION CONCLUSION

This module has been both frustrating and interesting over the period of 14 weeks. Since there was not enough time to do comprehensive research, many tasks had to be rushed to completion. There are certain areas of the research that can be improved, such as better organizing the critical review in identifying more relevant articles to use and possibly getting a larger set of responses for the questionnaire so that the users' percentages are more referable. The researcher discovered that some spelling mistakes had been made in her research proposal and preliminary research analysis, including some typos and incorrect formatting of APA 7th references. Also, the researcher should improve her time management skills so that the researcher can finish her research on time. Since this is her first time conducting this research, the researcher encountered some challenges and limitations along the way.

Through this research, the researcher have learned a lot, which is definitely beneficial to her future work and study. Despite research gaps, both the secondary and primary data obtained are valuable and appropriate for the research, and they also answered the research objective and questions stated in the research proposal. Overall, this module provided an opportunity for the researcher to learn how to conduct a formal academic research project from beginning to conclusion, and the insights gained will benefit her field of specialisation in the future.

FINAL SUBMISSION IN PDF

RECORDED PESENTATION

 *Zoom presentation is not usable due to some technical issue*

| Youtube Link :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOiOB_N1jCI

| Google Drive Link : 

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1dIAtkV3_y6RvYCAOXp1zFk84Aw7FIz52

___