Challenge
Zansors was a tech startup in the healthcare/medical space, building wearables, mobile apps, and cloud software around the care and treatment of chronic medical conditions. Zansors worked with nationally known experts to develop the Help4 line of apps — delivering classic Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia and Tobacco Cessation in a digital format.
This included the ability to log and track behaviors, along with algorithms to analyze and personalize the experience based on user input.
My challenge was not just to create apps but to devise a platform and single design system that could be used for multiple apps, creating a brand experience that was flexible enough to accommodate different CBT programs as well as symptom management for patients with chronic medical conditions.
Solution
I leveraged an application previously built by Zansors for managing lymphedema symptoms and helping care teams triage patients with chronic conditions based on the severity of symptoms between patient contacts. Both use data that is collected over time from user-generated logs.
I created a framework that combined flexibility to deliver individual CBT programs as needed, with a behavior and symptom tracker that could be applied to any CBT program or symptom tracker for chronic medical conditions.
Learnings
This was the first project I ever worked on. Every deliverable marked a key stage of the UX process - as it was contextualized by a real-world project. I saw first hand how companies strategize around projects, what they prioritize, and how real-world external influences affect the direction. I learned about what it takes to coordinate the development and deployment of applications and websites with an overseas development team, in a different timezone, with language and cultural barriers. I saw how market research can influence the trajectory of a project.
Working on the Help4 applications was a formative experience that I still draw on to this day
Help4 Tobacco Cessation
Zansors had partnered with Sonia A. Duffy, PhD who had developed a manual with the Department of Veterans Affairs that applied Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques aimed at helping veterans quit smoking. The manual is called Tobacco Tactics and can be found here. I was tasked with turning this paper-based program into a mobile application.
Help4 Tobacco Cessation 〉
Help4 Insomnia
Zansors wanted to roll out a CBT application for treatment of Insomnia.
This project was to translate the existing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia into an entirely digital experience. We worked with one of the few licensed providers of CBT for Insomnia at the time.
Help4 Insomnia 〉
Help4 — The Logs
As part of building a standard platform that could accommodate both CBT programs I consolidated the disparate logs of each program into one single log before standardizing the logging interaction across programs.
Help4 Logs 〉
Help4 — The Algorithm
I was named in a patent for an algorithm I built for a Sleep Restriction Therapy sleep schedule recommendation engine to be used in Help4 Insomnia
