These early initiatives established the foundational background we need to work with the state of health and healthcare engagement today and revealed gaps we need to fill in.
Understand the current state of health application use and effective ways of health engagement
Learn from those that came before us to guide our next research actions
Throughout the pandemic, healthcare consumers have shown increased agency and engagement over the medical care and decisions they receive.
A Trigger-Action-Reward-Investment loop reinforces itself through continued use, but is also just as easily broken and discontinued especially when it comes to something as ephemeral as a cellphone application.
The secondary research findings have matched with our primary findings, increasing our confidence level in the insights we arrived at.
Understand which levels of acquaintance people would be most likely to disclose health information to
Gauge the importance of prompting for participants to disclose health information
Learn the role of work relationships (Co-Worker, Boss, and Co-Worker Group) and an individual’s view on health
People were more comfortable sharing health data than we thought, especially when given the correct conditions of trust and transparency.
People use their social safety nets to help them reach their health goals. This understanding of the size and value of people’s social circles signals alternative ways to motivate as well as support people in health actions.
Understand what categories of health & wellness trackers are most popular to the public
Inquire the reasons why people start using health trackers
Explore whether there is a correlation between age and category of tracker usage
People use fitness and health trackers to keep on track with their health goals.
When people engage with COVID-19 trackers, they do so because of the sense of societal good it provides for them, rather than for their own safety, especially for the younger demographic spread.
Understand how people’s perceptions of their health have changed with the onset of the pandemic
Explore future needs of health that people are considering post-pandemic
Learn what health goals have withstood since before the pandemic
People adapt to their circumstances. This also means shaping their health to fit within that context.
Since the pandemic, the number of people engaged with their mental health increased by fivefold.
The pandemic has made people much more aware of their health status and much more open to health actions on a holistic level.
Understand the onboarding and daily use of employees in the ProtectWell app
Learn how variably people view their physical and mental health day after day
When forming new routines, people need reminders such as notifications and event triggers to stay on track. Without the triggers, the reinforcement loop is broken and routines are easily forgotten.
Without the context of an organization helping people understand what their symptoms and COVID-19 status mean, very little became actionable from the information gathered by ProtectWell in its current state.
Find underlying needs in healthcare for health disclosure, habit building, and using non-phone technology
Explore futures that we didn’t perceive, but the participants show interest in
People want to have a say on their own medical decisions, and if not that, the power to delegate decision-making. Being able to make the decisions provides our participants a sense of control over their own health.
Well21 created a digital sounding board, a way for people to engage and be mindful around what they were feeling at that moment in time without the presence of another human being.
We also learned that people have trouble expressing themselves and their feelings in meaningful ways without qualifying those feelings with current events taking place in their lives.
Understand the quality and variety of ways people respond to “How are you feeling?”
Find any correlations between response length and health category or positive/negative sentiment
When people respond to a question about how they feel, they more often think about their mental health than their physical or social well-being.
People often take their feelings as a diagnosis and rarely question whether that was actually true or not.
We found that most people greatly enjoyed the prototype activities Well21 created. Subjects found them as great segues between different parts of their day, and liked the no-pressure approach of choosing to engage whenever is best for them, rather than at a prescribed time.
Tools that break down barriers to the fear and mysticism around health will be necessary to empower people to break down those barriers themselves.
Test if social proof is a reliable motivator for small preventive health actions
Understand people’s relative interest in physical, mental, and social health challenges
People thought the challenges were a good transition point for their day, helping them ground themselves and separate chunks of time between work and relaxation.
The challenges were often viewed as fun as well as short and unobtrusive.
People needed reassurance that their social circle had already opted in to participate before passing the challenges on.
Well21 began synthesizing across studies to understand the core underlying values of what people want to engage with around their health.
We pulled in guideposts like Optum’s goals for the year to look at our findings from a different angle and reframe our opportunities.
We propose the three core values on the insights page for a successful health experience once COVID-19 moves to the backseat of our minds. With these recommendtions, Well21 positions Optum to understand which of their tools continues to bring value along with the new form health and care take.
