The Challenge

Recovering from a heart attack is a long journey, and families often want to help but feel unsure of their role.

Through interviews with patients (n=5) and family members (n=5), three key tensions emerged:

• Patients don't want to burden family, yet need support to manage recovery

• Family members want to help but lack guidance on what data matters and how to respond

• Patients value personal space and worry about being monitored rather than supported

  

How might we design a system that fosters companionship and equal involvement, rather than one-sided monitoring?

Approach

Together with LUMC, we re-designed the health tracking app to improve companionship for for patients discharged from hospital and their close family members. Using interviews, journey mapping, and participatory design, we identified needs for meaningful data presentation, guided family support, and equal involvement.

Our research revealed that patients and families overlooked lifestyle and well-being data (eating, walking, sleep) while focusing on clinical metrics. Yet these everyday factors offer the most opportunities for families to help.

What We Did

• Conducted 10 interviews with people who experienced heart attack and their close family members

• Mapped patient recovery journey to identify critical touchpoints and develped personas of patients and their children as key family memember

• Defined focus scenario: "Moment of uncertainty, learning & slow recovery" (critical period after discharge until rehabilitation)

• Designed 4 key features for the Family Box concept using design guideline from current LUMC application:

  1. Family Data Sharing with Control – Patients decide what to share and when

  2. Meaningful Insights, Actionable Tips – Translating data into guided support actions

  3. Shared Activities, Goals & Learning – Fostering mutual involvement in recovery

  4. Emotional Support – Creating space for connection beyond metrics

     
     

Outcomes

The prototype vision extends LUMC's existing care apps into a family-centered recovery tool, shifting relatives from passive supporters to equal companions.

Client Response: Positive feedback from LUMC, with plans to bring concepts into future implementation
Grade: 8.5/10
Limitation: Due to short timeline, we validated with stakeholders but did not conduct user testing with actual patient-family pairs