Kaiser Therapist Match - Kaya | Personal Project

As someone who struggled to find a therapist that was attuned to my cultural background, I realized that this wasn’t just a problem I was having but a widespread problem. This realization inspired my personal project that aims to make mental health care a more inclusive and culturally sensitive service.

My goal was to ensure that mental health professionals can meet the unique cultural needs of each patient, making mental health care more accessible and effective for everyone.

ROLE

Product Designer

TIMELINE

January 2024 - March 2024

TEAM

Senior Product Designer
Product Designer

User Experience Design
User Interface Design
Visual Design
User Research

SKILLS

TOOLS

Figma
Adobe Illustrator

🔍 Project Overview

Kaiser Permanente, a leading not-for-profit healthcare organization in the U.S., focuses on preventive care, digital health records, and healthcare research to enhance patient outcomes. This project involves developing a chatbot within the Kaiser Permanente app to match users with therapists. The chatbot asks targeted questions to ensure precise and personalized therapist matches, taking into account users' mental health needs and cultural backgrounds, improving access to effective mental health services.

What is Kaiser Permanente?

  • A not-for-profit healthcare organization in the U.S. that combines treatment and health insurance service

  • Focuses on preventative care, digital health records, and healthcare research to improve patient outcomes

What is Kaya?

  • Chatbot located inside the Kaiser app that matches users with therapists, considering mental health needs and cultural background

  • Utilizes specific questions to ensure a precise, personalized therapist match

📝 Market Research

I took a look at three leading competitors

Betterhelp: Subscription-based access to licensed therapists without detailed cultural background matching

Zocdoc: Links to therapists with insurance filtering, but limited in cultural matching

TalkSpace: Online therapy featuring a user friendly interface but lacks emphasis on cultural needs in matches

Opportunity

Fill the gap in the therapist match process by focusing on a solution that emphasizes on both mental health and cultural compatibility

💬 User Interviews

Difficulty in Finding a Suitable Match: All patients reported frustration with the current therapist matching process, citing a lack of personalization and difficulty in finding a therapist who meets their specific needs and preferences.

Lack of Cultural Sensitivity: The patients felt that the current process did not adequately consider cultural backgrounds, leading to mismatched therapist-patient pairings and ineffective therapy sessions.

Inefficient and Impractical Process: Patients found the current therapist matching process to be excessively long and inefficient, with impersonal interactions and delays that led to frustration and dissatisfaction.

⚠️ Problem Statement

As a Kaiser patient, finding a therapist is difficult because the process is confusing, manual, and the recommended therapists often don't meet their needs. This makes patients less likely to follow up on therapy recommendations, leading to many not getting the help that they need.

❌ Kaiser’s Current Matching System

Kaiser Permanente's therapist matching process is riddled with inefficiencies and impersonal interactions. The journey from start to finish involves numerous steps, approvals, and back-and-forth communications, leading to delays and frustrations. This outdated approach not only wastes valuable time but also lacks the personal touch essential for effective therapeutic relationships. Finding the right therapist for your mental health should be straightforward and personalized, not complicated and impersonal.

✅ My Proposed Solution User Flow

I've designed a more efficient and personalized therapist matching process. By chatting with Kaya, patients answer questions about their mental health and cultural background to ensure an accurate match. This streamlined approach eliminates unnecessary steps, making it easier for patients to book an appointment and get the help they need. The result is a smoother, more personalized, and effective experience.

Low Fidelity Mockups

User Feedback

  • Add separate buttons for "View Profile" and "Schedule Appointment" on matches page

  • Include a sticky floating bar for easy appointment scheduling on profile pages

  • Condense time, date, and location selection to minimize tapping

  • Introduce a landing screen for managing appointments, with options to cancel or reschedule

  • Address confusion and repetition in the appointment scheduling section

Applied User Feedback

📋 User Testing

3 Users were tested

  • 3 current Kaiser Permanente patients

  • Have been through therapist search via Kaiser process before

  • All frequent users of the app

Tasked the users with getting matched with a therapist and booking an appointment. Findings:

  • Booking and search process for a therapist was clear and smooth

  • 3 users were able to complete task

  • Unclear navigation from home page to appointments section

Applied Feedback

Final Designs

📊 Performance

Impact

  • Enhanced user satisfaction through culturally relevant therapist matches

  • Streamlined therapist matching and appointment scheduling process for user convenience

Metrics

  • 3 users successfully navigated the therapist match process and booked an appointment

  • Users were very satisfied with their experience, stating they would use the app again

💭 Reflections

Learnings

I improved therapist matching for Kaiser patients by focusing on cultural compatibility and mental health needs. To streamline the process, I integrated a user-friendly chatbot, which greatly enhanced the efficiency of matching patients with therapists. This new system received positive user feedback, highlighting the effectiveness of both the matching system and the chatbot.

Future Improvements

To gain deeper insights into user pain points, I plan to interview additional users. Based on this feedback, I will develop a feature that allows users to filter therapists based on general attributes such as gender, language, and age. This will enhance the matching process by providing more tailored options to meet user preferences.