Senior Thesis UX Project

Thesis Concept

In recent years, the topic of mental illness has become a popular subject. This can be attributed to the rise of social media, and some argue the rise of mental illness is because of an increase in social media platforms and usage (Mental Health Issues On the Rise Among Adolescents, Young Adults, n.d.). As mental illness has been talked about on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, society is starting to realize how important mental health is. For my thesis project, my problem space pertains to mental illness and more specifically, how to mitigate self-stigmas that come with having a mental illness.

Thesis Question

How can UX/UI processes inform the creation of digital social spaces that help mitigate self-stigmas for people with mental illnesses?

Process

Due to the sensitive nature of mental illnesses, I had to empathize with the affected demographic in order to appropriately define the self-stigmas that come with having a mental illness. By trying to step into the affected population’s shoes I was able to gather more data than just secondary research alone. It was important to me to reach out to people suffering from mental illnesses and try to understand what they were going through firsthand.

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Research Highlights

There is little consensus on what it means to recover from a mental disorder. 
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To better understand this problem, we first have to realize that mental illnesses are not a one size fits all problem; there are different types of mental illnesses and vary in symptoms and effects.

People who are suffering from a variety of mental illnesses, experience different symptoms and have different ideas of what recovery looks like for them. Recovery has a confusing definition in itself. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), document research has shown that partial to full recovery is successful between 25-60% of sample groups (Davidson & Roe,2007). This context of recovery means the improvement of symptoms associated with a specific illness that no longer interferes with daily life. However, further research suggested that mental illnesses were a multi-dimensional disorder and while some people were able to overcome domains like living independently and working, they still had impairments in social relationships.

People with mental disorders face stigmas when dealing with their conditions that not only come from society but from internally. 
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The aim of my thesis problem is to focus on preventing the application of applying stereotypes to oneself and agreeing with the stereotypes. People will always face adversity in their lives and can’t control what other people think or say about them. However, we can have control over how we are affected by other’s actions. By influencing how we react to other’s perceive notions of ourselves, we can have a better outcome of how we view ourselves. 
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Outside support is often the best course of action for helping to influence our perceived notions of stigmas. Peer-to-peer support has recently become effective in doing just that. Due to social media’s rise in recent years, platforms like Facebook and YouTube have illustrated acceptance, hope, and validation with a give and take nature among peers (Naslund et al., 2016). These platforms allow people to learn and seek advice from each other with communication occurring naturally, creating self-informing online communities with a shared understanding of living with a mental illness.
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People who suffer from mental disorders find opportunities with peer-to-peer online support.
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Peer-to-peer support and has been defined as one of the most transformational internet features with the rise of social platforms. A qualitative study showed that social media was useful for people with mental illnesses to feel less alone and gave them the ability to share personal stories and cope with day-to-day challenges (Naslund et al., 2016). 
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Although using social media to combat self-stigmata’s does have problems associated with it as well. The possibility of rejection, online bullying, risks surrounding miss information, and developing a dependency on online relationships are all issues associated with using social media. By taking the risks of peer-to-peer support into consideration, I believe that applying UX/UI principles to mitigate self-stigmas is possible. People suffering from mental illnesses are already using platforms to seek out support for dealing with mental illnesses. But by applying a user-first mentality and creating an online platform space that is dedicated to peer-to-peer support, we can counteract the risks that have been associated with sharing and connecting online.  

Current Digital Spaces

Currently, mental health platforms are in existence, Sal Raichbach, PsyD, LCSW believes mental health apps have the potential to reach people who would otherwise not receive help by removing the barriers to treatment (“Top25 Mental Health Apps for 2020,” n.d.). The issue with current mental health platforms is that they cost money or require a membership. They also target low-risk mental illnesses and are geared towards changing mood swings (The 8 Best Mental Health Apps of 2021, n.d.).

Interviews

After the primary and secondary research stages, I decided to survey people who were willing to share some insight into what they’ve been through. Due to the sensitive nature of the subject and COVID-19 pandemic, I thought an online anonymous survey would be best. Below are some highlights:

Journey Map

Concluding my research and interviews above, it was time to start synthesizing and ideate a user journey map that would best help potential users based on the research above.

Low Fidelity Designs

With taking the above into consideration, it was time to start prototyping and testing. The below screens are initial designs that help get the necessary information down in order to fulfill the needs of the user. 

High Fidelity Designs

Following the low-fidelity screens, I created a brand and a logo for Support Space. The objective of the branding was to create a calm yet positive tone for the app. This was done through color scheme and typography.

Click here to try the full Support Space application for yourself!

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