Final Bachelor Project - B3.2
Cardionnect
Squad: Vitality
Cardiac Rehabilitation has been proven beneficial for various cardiovascular diseases.
However, it has a low participation-rate. In the current society, telerehabilitation is the
future. It could lower the threshold to participate in a rehabilitation program and it is
safe in times of crisis, like the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the social aspect can be lost while going through rehabilitation from home. The aim of this project was to investigate peer support in form of an online buddy system to use it as a kind of motivation and social support.
Cardionnect is a buddy system developed for CR patients. This system will be provided through organizations like the hospitals or the Hartstichting. It is also possible for patient platforms to use and offer the service. There are currently already a lot of existing patient platforms. Making Cardionnect an addition to these existing platforms could make the users familiar with it. However, not everybody reaches out to a certain platform. Sometimes, people can be fearful to ask for help and if the hospital can help by giving them a push in the right direction.
Imagine a 51-year old man named Jan. Jan has had a heart attack a few weeks ago and will start his CR from home, because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Jan received some information about finding a buddy to share experiences with but does not feel like to join that system.
When Jan started his CR, he was very motivated. He made progression and felt confident. However, at some point he experiences some difficulties. Because he is doing the CR from home, he is not able to ask a fellow patient about these difficulties. He also feels like his wife would not understand his problem. This is when he remembered the hospital gave him information about a buddy system, called Cardionnect.
He decides to try it and logs in. Jan now gets the opportunity to find a buddy. The questionnaire shows up and it consists of three parts. He notices that the first part is about himself asking questions about his age, gender, background, etc. After this a whole set of statements comes, where he must answer in how much he agrees with them or not. Finally, he sees some questions about preferences in a buddy, for example age, gender or distance.
After this, the best possible options for a buddy for Jan are shown. Name, age and location are displayed as well as a little background story and an optional photo. Cardionnect gives Jan the option to connect right away, but also store his buddies for a later moment in time. Like this, Jan has the possibility to contact his proposed buddies at any time in the process that he would like. Having a storing option gives Jan more freedom and less obliged to having to make contact. If Jan decides to send a message, he first receives a message back in the Cardionnect. From here on, Jan and his buddy can decide if the relationship is worth building and how they want to maintain it.
Learning Points:
Failing my first FBP was hard for me, but also a big learning point. I realized that I should have asked for help sooner and have a better planning. I made strict plans for improving this. However, there was a lot of uncertaintity during the COVID-19 outbreak. When I last minute could race some big triathlon competitions I decided to go for it. I did make a new planning, but realized very quickly that I was failing to keep up with them. However, different from the previous year I talked about my fears and asked for help. This helped me get back on track and made me realize I should ask for help more. This is how I started planning extra meetings with a fellow student.
I feel like I developed myself a lot in professional skills this semester and learned how to deal with feedback better. I could get sad from critical feedback, because for me it felt like I was failing on something. However, I learned that this feedback is there to help you improve on yourself. Unlike my previous FBP, I made sure that the Creativity & Aesthetics timeline was parallel on the Technology & Realization timeline. This helped me get a better design. Although user testing was preventing me from working on the aesthetics of the design, I was determined to still improve that part.
Not only did this project help me work towards my vision, it helped me form my identity. This is where I realized how much I enjoyed health care on trips with my mother to her work place; the hospital. Helping people reach out to each other is something I could relate to as a person as well. I would feel like the threshold would get lower to ask for help. However, I feel like the design might be overtaking some of the human aspects in life. This is also why it should be an addition to rehabilitation from home, especially now in times of COVID-19. However, it should never replace the human factor.
Video about the working of Cardionnect | Video of Cardionnect's flow |