UX Case Study: Forward “MOMentum” to improve Postpartum Care and Awareness
Let’s derail the current maternal health uncertainties and regain the right MOMentum together with fellow mothers and maternal health providers.
MOMentum — UNDERSTANDING WHAT’S NORMAL
I started my own motherhood journey four years ago and now can look back and admit how overwhelmed I was. Of course there’s all the ‘First Time Mom’ feels that come with the new incredible role in caring for a newborn, which is amazing. Less expected, I realized how little I knew about my own body’s healing process after childbirth and about how much having a baby would change me. The unspoken realities that followed childbirth were some of the hardest for me to overcome.
Each childbirth my heart grew 10 times larger but my mind and body took a tailspin before getting back on track. I wasn’t willing to admit anything was wrong until much later. My postpartum experience included: baby blues, breastfeeding complications, perineal tearing, prolapse and incontinence. I realize now that everything I was experiencing was every bit of “normal” especially as a first time mom. Had I known I would have sought help sooner. Hence, the opportunity for MOMentum.
During my six week checkup, I remember my doctor asking does everything feel normal. In my head I’m thinking “what is normal? I gave birth a few weeks ago and my “normal” does not include pushing a watermelon out of my body to give life to another.”
I was not comfortable with asking questions. I didn’t know what questions I should be asking. Out loud I’d respond, “I think so,” and then immediately forget the majority of my questions. I didn’t understand postpartum recovery or what to expect until I lived it, grew from it and leaned on others.
Now that I’ve grown as a mother, recovered from childbirth and heard countless others’ stories I have this passion project that I wanted to create. I was eager to get to the root of the problem and propose a new approach to the Forgotten Fourth trimester.
MOMentum is a safe community of mothers and maternal health providers focused on building awareness of postpartum care and recovery. MOMentum creates space to have real conversations in real-time about postpartum realities.
DEFINE
PROBLEM
Mothers lives and wellbeing are often sacrificed or impaired by commonly preventable complications in the fourth trimester due to self and systemic oversight. Women are not prepared ahead of time and face difficulties either accessing care or knowing when to seek assistance.
TARGET AUDIENCE
MOMentum would be most beneficial for first time mothers who are within two years postpartum. Although some pregnancy-related health concerns can last a lifetime, with the proper support and awareness, most are resolved within this two-year timeframe.
By connecting mothers and providing easier access to maternal health providers, first time mothers would get the reassurance and information they need to either seek professional help with their postpartum conditions or have a better understanding of postpartum recovery.
Experienced mothers would also benefit from this platform and provide the necessary community support that would help bolster this platform. Including maternal health providers creates an uninhibited access point to reach more mothers beyond their routine practice, and improves validity of the information shared through MOMentum.
PROCESS
- Discovery Research — Understand the Motherhood Experience from various angles
- Empathize with Users and Identify Area of Opportunity
- Design a Solution Prototype and Execute Feedback Sessions
- Adjust Prototype and Consider Next Steps
EMPATHIZE — UNDERSTAND THE MOTHERHOOD EXPERIENCE
RESEARCH
Desk Research:
The research demonstrated that U.S. pregnancy-related mortality rates have continued to increase over the past two decades. In addition, the U.S. has the lowest overall supply of midwives and OBGYNs compared to other developed countries, according to a 2020 OECD report.
In the U.S. most insurance companies cover one postpartum visit in the first year, however, the World Health Organization recommends at least four health contacts in the first six weeks after childbirth. With all this in mind and since more than half of maternal deaths occur after birth, strengthening postpartum care should be a priority.
Guerrilla User Research:
Over the course of 8 weeks I used various social media platforms to get a better understanding of the prevalent discrepancies in women’s expectations of healthcare following childbirth compared to their true postpartum experiences.
In addition, I also followed a number of maternal health providers (OBGYNs, midwives, lactation consultants and pelvic floor physical therapists) to see how they were using social media platforms and digital resources to extend their reach to a greater audience and build awareness of postpartum recovery concerns.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS AND COMPETITIVE WALKTHROUGH
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS & AFFINITY MAPPING (Tools: Zoom and Dovetail)
KEY FINDINGS
IDEATE — EXPLORE CONCEPTS, DESIGN SOLUTION
After gaining a robust understanding of the cultural and systemic problems with maternal healthcare, I wanted to design a mobile app that would resonate with new mothers, provide quick and easily accessible answers and a reliable community that they could turn to for insights 24/7.
As the mother’s circadian rhythm is disrupted based on newborn feedings every 2 hours, I wanted sleep deprived mothers to get answers easily and quickly regardless of the time. With this in mind, I mapped features to needs to determine what I included in my prototype.
If I could meet the needs of the brand-new first time mothers, I thought my concept would also be effective for others mothers as well.
PERSONAS
USER JOURNEY MAP
I created personas and a user journey map based on my interviews to make sure I was designing with the user in mind. Of note, I wanted to include a hands-free option based on how mothers are constantly adapting to functioning with only one hand due to carrying their newborn everywhere.
In addition, I knew that mothers may not have extensive amounts of time to spend within the app so I wanted to ensure the design provided quick, easily accessible ways to seek information or get direct answers from a trusted source.
SKETCHES / IDEATION
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
For inspiration I looked at Visa Journey, a website that illustrates ones’ journey through a complex visa process immigrating to the U.S. I was particularly impressed by how they provided various forms of communication between members going through similar situations which builds a community, provides insight on expected timelines of when each visa phase might be completed and the ability to reach out to lawyers, when necessary.
With that framework in mind, I was hoping to build MOMentum as a way for mothers to compare their motherhood journeys, have insight into postpartum recovery timelines and also be able to reach out to professionals when they need direct answers for their particular maternal health concern.
VISUAL DESIGN - MOODBOARD OF MATERNAL HEALTH INFOGRAPHICS
I wanted to better understand how others display information on Maternity Health, how mothers are receiving this information and who are the leading providers for the most effective resources. In particular, I looked at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) website, the Hear Her Campaign and other resources. I used this information to build a moodboard I could reference for my visual design. I wanted a crisp, clean design that effectively provided the information mothers would need when they had questions or concerns on their own health.
PROTOTYPE
TEST
FEEDBACK SESSIONS
I completed 5 feedback sessions with 4 mothers and 1 OBGYN to review my design. This was incredibly helpful to ask which features they could see themselves using most often or least often but also asking them if they had any questions on the design.
Additionally, the OBGYN feedback was incredibly helpful to make sure the Health Profile information was accurate and also included the details that an OBGYN would need to know in order to provide accurate care to mothers in a virtual space. Based on these feedback sessions I adjusted the prototype and also incorporated a Forum feature which allowed mothers to see previously asked questions by topics or communities.
REFINED PROTOTYPE
OUTCOMES AND OVERALL CHALLENGES
