Aging in Place


A User Research Study

Collaborative UXR Internship

Background

Allwayswithyou (AWY) wants to help seniors age at home. Their app monitors health metrics and gives advice. Investors doubt seniors will use it.

Role

UX Research Intern & Project Manager

Timeline

5 weeks

Project Onboarding & Scoping (1)

Survey Design, Recruitment (1)

Secondary & Primary Research (2)

Synthesis & Research Readout (1)

Research Statement

What are seniors' needs, wants, and pain points with aging in place?

Methods

Secondary Research

  • Villages support transportation, socialization, and fulfillment. Some also address affordability.

  • AmeriCorps Seniors gives meaning through volunteering. Some seniors get stipends.

Participant Recruitment

The screener survey was distributed using Reddit, Nextdoor, Facebook, SurveyCircle, and community outreach. No incentives were offered.

Over 7 days, we received 121 responses: 

  • 44 seniors

  • 16 willing to talk

  • 13 invited to video chat

  • 7 interviewed

The Google Forms survey

Qualitative In-Depth User Interviews

We conducted six 30-40 minute remote interviews and one 11 minute in-person interview. The moderator’s guide split them into themes:

  • Getting to know them

  • Routine

  • Social and emotional needs

  • Communication with family

  • Health monitoring

  • Challenges

  • Tech

Sample Questions

  1. Walk me through your daily routine;

  2. Are there any foods you eat regularly? Tell me about them.

  3. Tell me about the last time you exercised.

  4. Do you have any concerns about the next 10-20 years?

Diverse seniors were interviewed

Synthesis

 Affinity mapping in progress

Outputs

Affinity Map

Living conditions & tech usage/attitudes

Health & social/emotional needs

Concerns/pain points & hobbies

Insights shaped personas.

User Personas

Personas represented the two most common stances towards new tech.

Tanya is comfortable with tech but feels neutral about trying new tech.

Dave uses tech daily but is suspicious of new tech solutions.

Empathy Maps

Empathy maps built on their personalities.

Tanya likes helping people and staying busy. She’s worried about mental acuity.

Dave likes routine. He volunteers and worries about his future.

We built deliverables together. I led Jobs To Be Done and How Might We Statements brainstorms. We used these to determine recommendations.

Assumptions and Biases

  1. User persona Emma was included in onboarding. Her pains didn't align with our research. We assumed she had declining capacity. 

  2. Since 6/7 participants live in America, we assumed our research represented U.S.-based seniors.

  3. Insights were influenced by our experiences taking care of elderly family members.

Next Steps

Interviewees had concerns about privacy, radiation, and toxic content. This made them cautious with unfamiliar tech. We recommended non-intrusive solutions that blend into seniors' routines, like:

  • A smart fridge that asks what they ate today; 

  • A smart bathroom mirror that asks about sleep quality;

  • A smart home device that asks how they exercised the day before;

  • An app integrated with WhatsApp that asks quick health questions before video chats. 

Before deciding on a solution, we recommended:

  • Researching family caregivers;

  • Conducting market research;

  • User journey mapping;

  • Designing and testing low & high fidelity prototypes of an MVP;

  • Iterating based on findings;

  • Releasing in the target market (instead of one global release); and

  • Testing usability in new markets to account for different cultural, medical, and legal contexts.

Deliverables presentation to stakeholders

Reflections

Despite being spread across 4 time zones, this internship was highly collaborative. We wrote planning documents, synthesized findings, and created deliverables together. We polished UI and wrote sections of the research report asynchronously.

We delivered news that seniors are unlikely to use the AWY app. They’d be more motivated by apps that enhance community or meet practical needs. Stakeholders took our feedback constructively.