Creating a health app for stroke survivors

Stroke survivors often lack adequate support after leaving the hospital. Our digital health team set out to create a solution that supports recovery, encourages positive behaviours and helps patients get the most out of rehabilitation.

Through extensive research into care pathways, we pinpointed the key areas of unmet need for stroke survivors during post-acute care. Using these insights, we then identified several behavioural interventions that can aid in stroke recovery, which we combined into an intuitive, user-centred digital health solution.

Digital health | UX/UI design | Behaviour design

phone of hands holding a phone with and scrolling through an app

A digital rehabilitation solution

The digital solution we developed features a user-friendly health app designed to aid patients in their stroke rehabilitation journey. Intended to support patients throughout the entire post-acute care pathway, the app enables healthcare professionals to provide personalised care plans as patients transition from acute care to home or community settings.

Built on core behaviour design principles, we designed the app to offer each patient a customised digital rehabilitation plan that adjusts based on individual progress and adherence. By integrating various behavioural interventions, it provides comprehensive support for physical rehabilitation tasks, whether used independently or with caregiver assistance.

Our process

Our digital health experts carried out an iterative process of research, ideation and testing to create a user-centred solution with an effective UX/UI.

01Research

Extensive desk based and field research to understand key barriers and opportunities within the landscape of stroke recovery

02Behaviour design

Translating research into digital design health solutions that represent tailored interventions informed by behavioural science principles

03 Ideation

Rigorous iteration of digital interventions to form a single concept which addresses key needs of stroke survivors

04User testing

Testing the digital prototype with representative stroke survivors to obtain feedback on the effectiveness of our solution

05Detailed design

Refining the concept into a friendly and supportive UI, tailored to help users adhere to positive behavioural change

Hand holding blue weight during rehabilitation

Research into care pathways

We carried out extensive desk based and field research to understand key barriers and opportunities within the landscape of stroke recovery. This included both the impact of strokes as well as existing challenges around patient rehabilitation.

Pie chart showing impact of stroke – source Northwestern Medicine

The impact of stroke

The impact of stroke is complex and diverse. There is a sharp drop-off in the provision of care after patients leave hospital and it’s often difficult to obtain professional support. Family members or community carers often assume the role of primary caregiver.

Graph showing stroke rehabilitation pathways – source UK Stroke Association

Understanding rehabilitation challenges

Data from the Stroke Association highlights the need for enhanced patient support. Communication between the stroke survivor and healthcare professional is a major challenge. Patients commonly do not receive a comprehensive rehabilitation plan and it’s difficult for healthcare professionals to track progress. The emotional impact of stroke also represents a huge burden.

Identifying key requirements

To address the key issues experienced by stroke survivors, we identified three core requirements for the digital health solution:

Give structure to the rehabilitation process
Reinforce a strong sense of progress
Provide tools to support mental health

Beyond the patient, the solution also needed to support primary caregivers as well, particularly where the patient is unable to interact with the digital tool themselves. It also needed to communicate with the patient’s relevant healthcare professional, to allow them to monitor their progress.

Graphic showing the COM-B behavioural model

Behaviour design

Using the COM-B model, we focused on identifying specific behavioural interventions for encouraging sustained patient engagement with a tailored digital rehabilitation plan. This involved mapping desirable behaviours with the possible interventions for achieving them, along with the objective impact they could have.

illustrations showing our process from wireframes to app mock ups sq

App design

To explore how the chosen behavioural interventions could be embodied in a digital health app, we began by ideating different ideas on paper. We then developed these into wireframe models using an interface design tool, refining the ideas and identifying how they could be brought together in one cohesive experience. Finally, we began iterating a high-fidelity UI to support patients with their recovery.

The key design challenges were how to present daily activities to the user without them being perceived as overwhelming, as well as demonstrating how those activities were contributing to achieving their goals.
Chris Davies, UX/UI Design Consultant, Team Consulting

iphone showing screen from stroke recovery app

Addressing emotional wellbeing

We designed the solution with emotional wellbeing at its core, with user-centred tools to monitor and support a stroke survivor’s emotional state during recovery. Users can easily connect with other patients, allowing them to share their experiences and get access to peer support during their recovery, helping to prevent feelings of isolation that can be common during stroke recovery.

mobile phone showing segment of an app screen

Aiding with healthcare professional communication

The app efficiently shares data on adherence and progress with the patient’s respective healthcare professional, to support more efficient and productive dialogue during the limited contact time they have together. There is also provision for caregivers to be the primary user of the service, for situations where the patient is not able to use the health app independently.

Blurred image of Stroke survivor during user testing

Testing with stroke survivors

User testing was a key part of the process, allowing us to gain rich insights to help refine the prototype health app. We recruited stroke survivors aged between 57 and 77 to test the solution, asking them to evaluate the setup process, completion of daily tasks and some additional support features.

I love this. I would’ve given anything to have something like this after my stroke. After I left the hospital, I didn’t have a lot of support. This is so cool – everything I could have wanted it to be and more.
Stroke survivor study participant

Outcome

This project showcases the potential for a digital health solution to ease the complex and chronic issues experienced by stroke survivors and their caregivers. Tailored design of behavioural interventions helped define a comprehensive and wide reaching feature set, but one that is completely focused on the goal of improving stroke rehabilitation outcomes. Continued development of digital health solutions promises to be key in addressing some of the most complex healthcare challenges, and in making care more accessible to those who need it around the globe.

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