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Mobile Application Design for Social Workers

Objective

While working in teams of four as part of a class project at HCDE, we explored the issues and design challenges around mobile information systems for social workers.

Problem Domain

Aid Social Workers in a Mobile Context - Helping patients with greater needs than medical providers offer (i.e. food, housing, treatments)

Problem Statement

As a social worker who visits families in their home, I need quick access to information like identifying medications and find community resources, so that I can better assess situations and act on potential dangers and spend less time searching for information and coordinating solutions on site.

Research Methods

Reviewed articles, blogs and job descriptions. Talked to experts. Analyzed and prioritized the issues. Created a fictional persona that umbrellas the user population. Prepared Paper Prototypes, Flow Scenarios in order to frame the problem. Designed a prototype that will create solutions to the framed issues.

Key Issue Areas

Time Management: Patient time vs. Coordinating Services

Logistics: Patient visits (home / clinics / hospital / prisons / shelters)

Accessibility: Limited mobile access to resources for coordination (volunteers, legal, various community resources). Limited mobile access to knowledge-based information (medications, terminology acronyms etc.)

Click to run Prototype