PTSD Coach
I worked with Veterans Affairs as a client to create an app that would help those suffering from PTSD manage their symptoms and reclaim their lives.
To explore PTSD Coach on your own, visit the app store. It is currently available with a 4.7 star user rating.
About Veterans Affairs
Veterans Affairs is a government department in charge of providing healthcare services for eligible military veterans. During my contract as a designer with Verticle Product Development, I worked directly with the Palo Alto, CA-based branch of Veterans Affairs to create a mobile app that would help patients manage their PTSD.
My Role...
As a UX Designer...
I started with product research to ensure design consistency across all VA apps and to gain inspiration for new features. I met with representatives from Veterans Affairs to establish project goals/requirements. Finally, I designed the entire organization of the app, the wireframes for all 120 initial screens, and every interaction that the app would need to incorporate. This included consideration for 508 Accessibility requirements as target users were veterans who could be living with various disabilities. Once tested and approved, I passed my designs on to our visual designer who created high-fidelity mocks for our engineering team to refer to.
As a Product Manager...
I conducted product research reviewing all other Veterans Affairs applications as well as other therapy applications to gain insight into design requirements and possible solutions. I also considered the requirements given to me by Veterans Affairs. I synthesized these insights/requirements into a product document that helped scope the design and engineering efforts in order to complete the project.
After approval of our final designs, I shepherded the application through development and launch. I worked with a remote team in Italy to develop the app, tested every feature and interaction, and approved it for launch. We launched on schedule and the app lives on today after further iteration.
My Design Process
My Product Development Process
Feature: Identifying Feelings
One aspect of PTSD recovery is developing the ability to identify and describe strong feelings. Identifying and reflecting on feelings can help reduce emotional intensity in the moment. I designed this feature inspired by my research into feeling identification exercises for PTSD like the feelings identification wheel. Distress is measured both at the start of the exercise and at the end. This demonstrates to the user both the utility of the exercise and their progress towards stability by using the exercise. By both identifying the emotion and exploring the source, the user can gain insight into why a certain feeling is occurring and better address how to respond to it in the moment.
Feature: Deep Breathing
Intense anxiety is a symptom of PTSD. This can result in a panic attack where the patient hyperventilates and has trouble both calming down and breathing normally. One tool that doctors with Veterans Affairs use is deep breathing. This feature was developed in conjunction with the requirement that a deep breathing exercise be included, and after research into other applications that included deep breathing exercises.
The included text is meant to meet APA compliancy for veterans who are hard of hearing or deaf. The visual cue allows the user to easily understand the rate at which they need to breathe in order to calm down. It is meant to be easily used when in distress.
Result
I completed the final designs for the entire application and handed the wireframes off to our visual designer who added color and images to each screen. The application was then sent to our engineering team who developed our designs into a fully functional mobile application. Patients are able to use this application to manage their symptoms and are able to review their work with the app with their doctor. It can be found on the Apple App Store and has a 4.7 rating.
Contact
Email: cadouglass@gmail.com