Creating & Validating User Scenarios
Brainstorming
At this point, we had different problem areas we had identified but still wanted to pursue a concept that would bridge tensions between family caregivers and seniors. This was due to the fact that we felt that family caregivers would be the best solution to address senior loneliness, senior isolation from their families, and supporting them through their declining health. We narrowed down 30 brainstormed solutions into 6 concepts that we either found valuable to pursue or thought were a good starting point to a better idea:
Senior event meetup app. Addresses the physical limitations and loneliness seniors face and allows them to develop new relationships.
Senior bucket list app. Elderly people and their families need a way to come to terms with death and allow the elderly to feel accomplished even late into their lives.
Caregiver task tracker and lessons app. Addresses the need for caregiver support and education for the untrained.
Wearable monitoring and communication device with translation features. Addresses the need of language barriers and time management skills for caregivers.
Mentor matching program. Addresses the issue of senior isolation and inability to do the things they love, allowing them to work with a mentor to continue to do enriching hobbies and activities.
Small senior commune. Addresses the importance of senior autonomy and social integration by allowing seniors to feel empowered and part of something larger than themselves.
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Interviews
We presented these ideas to seniors and caregivers to receive proper user input. We interviewed 3 seniors at a volunteering event at a senior home, and interviewed 1 family caregiver and 1 professional caregiver.
Caregiver Goals
identify the biggest challenges of caregivers, differentiate what may be different between professional and family caregivers, understand the relationship between caregivers and their care recipients, understand the viewpoint of the caregiver for the care recipient, and validate our storyboards and product ideas
Senior Goals
get a detailed understanding of the challenges faced by seniors to make up for the lack of response in our survey, understand senior relationship with technology and caregivers, understand the hobbies and struggles that come with age, and validate our storyboards and product ideas
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Seniors require help with certain tasks like transportation, physical labor, technology, and struggles with isolation and ageism are quite prevalent.
“A lot of people reach a point where they can’t drive [...] We don’t have public transportation here.”
- senior participant
“There is so many things that seniors can’t do or are afraid of doing [...] I can’t get up there to put the fixture back on”
- senior participant
“She’s becoming isolated and it’s sad even though we try to talk to her [...] and it can go downhill very quickly”
- family caregiver
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The seniors also reported a lack of free community spaces for seniors, but that being part of a social, active community was important to remain active and connected. The seniors also stated that they were always grateful for intergenerational bonding opportunities.
“I would be glad to mentor a younger person [...] like cooking, I love to cook”
- senior participant
“Even though I have no immediate family here, I just feel like I have this [community]”
- senior participant
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We asked caregivers, "What do you think your care recipients struggle with?" (senior experience)
Loneliness and Isolation:
“Her grandchildren don't visit or call often”
- professional caregiver
"I can tell that she wants to talk to more people that aren't just us."
- family caregiver
Physical impairment:
"She can't get up by herself and needs me to do her housework for her"
- professional caregiver
“She gets tired easily and can't drive to where she wants to go”
- family caregiver
Difficulty coping with condition:
"She didn't tell me [she had cancer] until two weeks later"
- professional caregiver
"She refuses to take schizophrenia medications sometimes"
- family caregiver
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And finally, we asked the caregivers for their insights on their own experiences.
Professional Caregiver
- Emotional struggles, needing to maintain professional/personal boundaries
- Training is different from actual practice
- Enjoys building connections with patients and being able to deliver them the best quality of care
Family Caregiver
- Emotional burden and personal obligation — neither the caregiver or care recipient wanted to be in this situation
- Language barriers
- Enjoys watching their loved ones improve under their care
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Storyboard Presentation
During the interviews, we presented storyboards of our current concepts to both seniors and caregivers. Below are the top 2 storyboards that received the most favorable feedback.
Senior Event Meetup App
Mentor-Mentee Matching App
Pivot
Following our interviews, we pivoted on two things. One, we revised our mentorship matching storyboard to involve bidirectional mentorship. Not only are seniors mentors, they’ll be able to get help from the product as well, such as finding tech support.
Two, we realized that although not all seniors needed caregivers, all seniors did need community. We introduced the general community around a senior as a stakeholder, and de-emphasized the caregiver.
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Competitor Analysis
Our concept at this stage was comparable to many skill-sharing and mentorship platforms that already exist. It was necessary to evaluate the strengths and limitations of possible competitors to make sure that our concept would be valuable to the current market.
exchange of services using time credits, flexible service exchange with equal time valuation — membership fees may apply
requires significant management
global platform for service exchange using TimeCoins, global reach with a variety of services and free to sign up
lacks personal, localized relationships
online learning with user-generated classes, wide variety of user-driven content and access to diverse learning opportunities, subscription fee based
impersonal, mass-produced content, lack of interactive experiences
freelance services marketplace, wide range of services and strong brand partnerships, registration and service feeds
high service feeds, limited to certain urban areas
mentorship for career and skill development, personalized mentorship with industry professionals + flexible schedules — subscription varies by plan
limited by mentor expertise, limited range of professional areas
virtual mentoring connecting young and older generations
primarily virtual interactions, specific to certain age group roles
Our Novelty
What sets us apart from these competitors? First, time banks promote a sharing of services, we want to promote a sharing of learned skills, that will be forever for the mentee to “keep”.
Second, the mentorship activities we provide would build personal and community connections, in contrast to the distant and professional relationships from mentorship platforms.
At the core of our concept is providing a sense of fulfillment for seniors, both socially and cognitively (in terms of self-efficacy).
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Business Concept
A platform where users of all ages within a community post their strengths and abilities that they can teach to the community.
For younger people, this may be technology assistance, or staying up-to-date on current trends. For older people, this may be cooking, career/life advice, or emotional support.
Users may agree to a “skill-swap” and work out the meeting logistics.
At this moment in time, we believe that the platform could use a subscription-based model.
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Mission Statement
We aim to foster intergenerational mentorships through the reciprocal teaching of wisdom, skills, and abilities, so that senior citizens and younger people alike are empowered to engage more meaningfully in their communities and build relationships.
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