iCare: Providing Patient Advocates with an Integrated Supportive Mobile System

The implementation of restorative design solutions in mobile healthcare is an emerging field in design practice. There is, however, a significant knowledge deficit in family/patient-­centric designs and systems. This paper describes the importance of implementing restorative and stress ­reducing solutions for patient advocates and caregivers. This research investigates the potential of a mobile iOS application and the benefits it could have for families and friends caring for chronically ill patients. The application allows the patient advocate to input and recover patient health data and provides social support via an integrated networking platform. The design of the application enables a holistic experience that draws attention to the often neglected emotional and social needs of the patient advocate. Its purpose is to improve health related outcomes and communication between patients, caretakers, and care providers. Empathic and User Experience (UX) design tools are triangulated with mHealth practices in the development of the platform. Designer John Maeda’s Laws of Simplicity, Nathan Shedroff’s Experience Design and Donald A. Norman’s Human Centered Design processes are described in detail as they identify some of the fundamentals of usability, aesthetics, cognition and interaction with operating systems. Conclusions are drawn from the analysis of six co-­design attendees, thirty semi-structured interviews and three user testing focus groups.