Applying design to design: demonstrating how to create a human-centered design session interview guide for use with...

Area of Science:

• Mental Health Technology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Adolescent Psychology

Background:

• Digital health interventions (DHIs) offer potential to expand mental health care access for adolescents, especially in underserved communities.
• Low engagement and uptake hinder the effectiveness of current DHIs.
• Human-centered design (HCD) is a promising approach to enhance DHI relevance and usability by involving end-users in the design process.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a practical template for developing a design session interview guide for needs assessment in the HCD process.
• To detail the iterative steps involved in creating and refining an HCD-based interview guide for designing DHIs for adolescent dysregulated eating.

Main Methods:

• The study employed an HCD framework, starting with an internal team needs assessment to identify key areas for adolescent feedback.
• Iterative development involved ideation, prototyping (drafting the guide), evaluation (piloting with team and an adolescent), and refinement.
• The process focused on gathering adolescent preferences regarding technology features, clinical content, delivery methods, and aesthetics.

Main Results:

• An internal needs assessment highlighted the necessity of understanding adolescent preferences for technology, clinical support, delivery, and developmental relevance.
• Six core domains were established for the interview guide: eating experiences, challenges, intervention features, coaching, sensor use, and aesthetics.
• A semi-structured design session interview guide was created and refined through internal practice and piloting.

Conclusions:

• The developed HCD-based interview guide serves as a replicable template for clinical scientists to create DHIs tailored to adolescent needs.
• Iterative refinement and end-user feedback are crucial for developing effective and engaging DHIs.
• This methodology can be adapted for designing DHIs across various clinical domains for adolescent populations.