BE MORE App

Context

BE MORE is a start-up in New York City where I work as the Design & Strategy Manager

Introduction

BE MORE is a learning & development company that trains professionals in mindfulness-based tools to measurably reduce unconscious bias. In January 2019, we received a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research (NSF SBIR) grant to test the feasibility of teaching our unconscious bias curriculum and mindfulness-based tools to healthcare providers on a mobile interface.

Background

Unconscious biases result in discriminatory interactions and decision-making that can have extremely negative impacts especially within healthcare. For example:

• Health disparities due to unconscious bias cost the U.S. economy $35 billion in excess healthcare expenditures and $20 billion in premature deaths

• Black women are 3 to 4 times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy related causes in the U.S.

Health care systems in the U.S. want to address this problem, however, the current landscape of training programs relies on time-intensive, in-person workshops that are costly and difficult to fit into the busy schedules of their workforce.

Research

Problem: In-person and online unconscious bias trainings do not sufficiently facilitate learner engagement, comprehension, and retention of curriculum, and do not allow for regular practice of the skills needed to reduce unconscious bias.

Research Question: How might we teach unconscious bias curriculum and mindfulness skills on a mobile interface and encourage daily use?

Hypothesis: We believe a mobile learning environment can promote stronger learning outcomes, skill development, and regular practice of mindfulness exercises.

Activities:

• Surveyed 123 physicians, nurses, and nurse practitioners

• Conducted 30 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders

• Held a week-long design sprint which included storyboarding user experiences, identifying pain points and needs, feature prioritization, and creating user personas, user journeys, and user flows

User Needs & Pain Points:

• Quick and easy. Learners don’t have a lot of time and need to be able to do the training quickly while at work. Clients want a solution where they can train all their staff at once.

• Fun and interesting. Learners find current trainings boring and don’t want to complete them.

• Useful skills. Learners aren’t getting anything out of current trainings, don’t know what steps to take afterwards. They want practical tips and tools.

• Data, safety, and security. Both clients and learners want to track their progress and see measurable results, but want to make sure their individual information is private and secure.

• Wellness: Current trainings make learners feel shameful and worse about themselves. They want to feel more connected to their colleagues.

Testimonials

“Unconscious bias is ubiquitous in healthcare. It is important for all physicians to get this training during their career.” - Neurologist

“I found this program very useful. It was impactful and it doesn't take much time. The daily guided mindfulness exercises were my favorite part of the app.” - Internist

“Black women are four times more likely to die from pregnancy complications! That was really mind blowing and something I had no idea about.” - Nurse Practitioner

Next Steps & Key Takeaways

Now that we have a proof of concept, the next step is to apply for Phase II of the NSF Grant to fully build out the mobile app.

Here are a few learnings from throughout the process:

• Designing a research study: I learned how to create a research and data plan for a project with multiple objectives and phases. This included writing and submitting an IRB protocol which was a huge learning experience!

• Collaborating across a multi-disciplinary team: With only 2 designers on our team including myself, I learned how to advocate for our users and ensure that human-centered design was at the center of our work while collaborating with developers, academic researchers, product managers, etc.

• Leveraging data to make design decisions: I was in charge of all our data collection throughout the process, and regularly pulled insights from our data to incorporate those learnings into the design of the app.