PSYCHOLOGYTODAY.COM
Introducing a Self-Service Appointment System that allows practitioners to focus on their practice rather than engaging in back-and-forth with their clients.
01. OVERVIEW
PROBLEM AND BACKGROUND
It is difficult to access talk therapy for a variety of reasons, whether they are social norms, cultural norms, or financial limitations. The availability of mental health services for black and minority ethnic populations is significantly low in most developed countries. [1] Across the lifespan, young men experiencing mental illness seek the least professional help. [2] As compared to white students, racial/ethnic minority students report less previous mental health treatment and treatment after coming to a counseling center. [3]
In spite of the staggering systemic issues affecting access to therapy, I have observed that prospective clients who attempt to schedule their first therapy appointment through an online directory often go through a lengthy, frustrating back and forth over the phone and voicemail, only to discover days later that their practitioner is fully booked and cannot accept new clients.
On PsychologyToday.com, the world's most popular therapist directory, I created a Self-Service Appointment and Rescheduling Process to reduce the amount of back and forth between prospective clients and practitioners, allowing practitioners to focus on their clients instead.
Additionally, a new built-in calendar and integration with Google Calendar was developed for practitioners to accompany this feature and to visualize how it may be integrated into the current Psychology Today website.
MY ROLE
Lead UX Designer and User Researcher
THE TEAM
Solo
DURATION
80 hours
TOOLS
Figma, HTML to Figma, Zoom, Google Suite
02. DISCOVERY
COMPETITOR RESEARCH - GOOD THERAPY VS. THERAPY DEN VS. INCLUSIVE THERAPISTS
KEY FINDINGS
STRENGTHS
Basic search filters (location, gender, specialty, insurance, etc) included in all platforms surveyed.
Inclusive Therapists have plenty of filters for POC and non-binary users.
All platforms include a status feature indicating if a therapist is accepting new clients.
OPPORTUNITIES
Implementing a self-service appointment system to schedule and modify appointments.
Additional search filters accommodating more backgrounds and preferences.
WEAKNESSES
None of the platforms include self-service appointment functionality.
Search filter specificity varies across platforms.
THREATS
Using a therapist directory is not the only way users find a therapist.
Social and cultural norms can prevent users from seeking therapy.
USER RESEARCH - USER INTERVIEWS
In order to better understand the experiences of end-clients and therapists, I conducted User Interviews over Zoom with four end-clients and three practitioners.
KEY FINDINGS
THERAPISTS DON’T PICK UP
Almost all end-clients reported that when they called a prospective therapist for their first appointment, they were sent to voicemail.
If they weren't ghosted, therapists would often return their calls a few days later to tell them they weren't taking new clients.
INSURANCE AND THEIR DIRECTORIES ARE A PAIN
Not everyone selects their own therapist via an online directory. Often, an end-client may be referred to a practitioner by a health insurance representative or primary care physician.
Those who can select their own therapist will find that most insurance directory listings lack current phone numbers, availability, and insurance information.
THERAPISTS ARE OVERWHELMED
Practitioners know the negative first impression resulting from "phone-tag" between themselves and potential clients. However, due to long hours working with current clients and reviewing paperwork, calls are filtered through voicemail and never answered.
Many practitioners prioritize their current case load, which can result in their Psychology Today profiles not reflecting their current availability.
USER RESEARCH - USER SURVEYS
I conducted two separate user surveys to collect quantitative data on practitioners' (12 participants) and end-clients' (16 participants) experiences to validate the problem I was solving.
KEY FINDINGS FROM PRACTITIONERS
58%
of Practitioners prefer Google Calendar
33% prefer TherapyAppointment
8% prefer iCal
58%
Would very unlikely maintain a new calendar in Psychology Today.
70%
Would very likely use a new calendar if it bi-directionally synced with an existing calendar.
42%
Would likely let their clients schedule their own first appointment or screening if they had the option.
58%
Just need basic demographic information prior to a first appointment or screening.
KEY FINDINGS FROM END CLIENTS
63%
Use a desktop or laptop when researching for therapists.
75%
Use a directory like Psychology Today when finding a therapist.
81%
Prefer self-service appointments over emailing and calling the service when scheduling online.
88%
Cite if their insurance is accepted by the practitioner as a top concern.
81%
Cite what to expect in the first session as an additional concern.
Practitioners using Psychology Today were unlikely to maintain another calendar, but were open to using it if it integrates with an external calendar. Since Google Calendar was the most popular calendar used for tracking appointments, it became the first to integrate.
USER RESEARCH - USER PERSONAS
Based on my research insights, I developed three personas that represent the different types of Psychology Today users, as well as their expectations, motivations, and frustrations:
1 Practitioner maintaining their own Psychology Today profile.
1 technical user in charge of maintaining a practice’s Psychology Today account but not an actual Practitioner.
1 end-client seeking therapy.
ABOUT REGINA
Regina is a licensed therapist who has run her own private practice for over 20 years.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Age: 55 years old
Occupation: Private Therapist Practice, PhD
Gender: Female
Technical Ability: Advanced Beginner
MOTIVATIONS
When setting up the first appointment with a prospective client, she wants to limit back-and-forth communication.
Because she understands the discomfort of seeking mental healthcare, she is open to utilizing technology and to resolving any bumps along the way.
Since she has worked in her practice for over 20 years, she doesn't want to make a lot of changes to her legacy workflow.
GOALS
Needs an easy way to integrate with Google Calendar and Psychology Today's calendar.
Needs to ensure the workflow for setting up the first appointment as an end-client is self-evident, clear, and with well-written instructions in order to avoid follow-up inquiries.
Needs Google Calendar sync to be bidirectional.
FRUSTRATIONS
The majority of her time is spent with clients, building treatment plans, and paperwork. Other activities are very limited.
Any technical issue could set her back quite a bit, due to her limited troubleshooting abilities.
ABOUT JOSH
Josh works for an IT firm that provides IT services to companies without internal IT departments. As such, he is the go-to "tech guy" for a private therapy practice, managing all of the therapists' Psychology Today profiles so they can prioritize their time with clients.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Age: 32 years old
Occupation: Senior IT Support
Gender: Male
Technical Ability: Expert
MOTIVATIONS
Josh tries to avoid adding processes to his clients that will confuse them and increase his call volume.
By maintaining the practice's Psychology Today profiles, he ensures his clients (Practitioners) don't have to worry about the technical minutiae.
GOALS
He needs a simple integration process with Google Calendar since his clients already use it.
To ensure he does not receive additional support calls, turning on the Google Calendar integration needs to be self-evident with all the necessary guiding prompts.
FRUSTRATIONS
Josh's role requires him to learn numerous application interfaces and functionality quickly and troubleshoot issues as they arise.
Often, the lack of in-application documentation, FAQs, or instructions leads to client support calls.
ABOUT DERRICK
Derrick is a Sales Manager at a small tech company. He has some experience with therapy after being referred by his primary care physician, but the therapist wasn't a good match. Since then, he has unsuccessfully sought therapy, but after experiencing a traumatic event, he has stepped up his efforts to try and find the right therapist.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Age: 40 years old
Occupation: Sales Manager
Gender: Male
Technical Ability: Competent
MOTIVATIONS
When scheduling his first appointment, he wants to avoid as much discomfort as possible, including phone tag with the therapists and calling just to check for availability.
In addition to his first therapist not being a right fit, his insurance was rejected, so he wanted to know more about billing.
GOALS
When scheduling his first appointment, he needs to be able to see the availability of therapists on Psychology Today.
The ability to reschedule and cancel appointments should be given to him.
FRUSTRATIONS
His previous attempts at therapy included calling therapists and leaving multiple voicemails. In most cases, he would find out days later that they weren't taking on new clients or their availability didn't align.
The phone-tag and rejections from potential therapists made him give up on therapy prior.
03. INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
USER STORIES
With the users’ concerns in mind, the following user stories were prioritized:
As a Provider, I want a new built-in Calendar within the PsychologyToday.com “Availability” form. I want to create basic events with the option to make them recurring and with Day, Week, Month, and Year calendar views.
As a Provider, I want to be able turn on/off the proposed “Self-Service Appointment” feature from my Settings. When enabled, this allows visitors of my Profile to schedule their first appointment or screening while on my Profile.
As a Provider, I want to be able to turn on/off an external calendar integration from my Settings. With the Integration, I want to bi-directionally sync my calendar events/appointments with my Psychology Today Calendar and external calendar. This means, when I create an Event in an external calendar or Psychology Today Calendar, the event will show up on both Calendars.
As an end-user seeking therapy, I want a self-service booking process where I can view a Provider’s Psychology Today page, see a calendar of their availability, and book a phone screening or my first appointment. During the process I want to confirm my session cost and location.
As an end-user seeking therapy, after booking my first appointment via the self-service process, I want an immediate an email confirmation with the following details: appointment time, date, address, and a link which takes me to a web page where I can modify/cancel the appointment.
USER FLOWS
In order to visualize how my interface would be used to accomplish the tasks identified in my user stories, I diagrammed user flows. These flow concepts assisted me in understanding the type of visual hierarchy I would need to create and how all the elements relate to each other.
User Story:
As a Provider, I want a new built-in Calendar within the PsychologyToday.com “Availability” form. I want to create basic events with the option to make them recurring and with Day, Week, Month, and Year calendar views.
User Stories:
2. As a Provider, I want to be able turn on/off the proposed “Self-Service Appointment” feature from my Settings. When enabled, this allows visitors of my Profile to schedule their first appointment or screening while on my Profile.
3. As a Provider, I want to be able to turn on/off an external calendar integration from my Settings. With the Integration, I want to bi-directionally sync my calendar events/appointments with my Psychology Today Calendar and external calendar. This means, when I create an Event in an external calendar or Psychology Today Calendar, the event will show up on both Calendars.
User Story:
4. As an end-user seeking therapy, I want a self-service booking process where I can view a Provider’s Psychology Today page, see a calendar of their availability, and book a phone screening or my first appointment. During the process I want to confirm my session cost and location.
User Story:
5. As an end-user seeking therapy, after booking my first appointment via the self-service process, I want an immediate an email confirmation with the following details: appointment time, date, address, and a link which takes me to a web page where I can modify/cancel the appointment.
SITE MAP
I created a Site Map in order to visualize how my proposed functionality would fit within Psychology Today's existing architecture. The new features can be found within the "Find a Therapist" and "Provider Portal" flows.
04. DESIGN PROCESS
LOW FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
For each of the five flows, I began by sketching low fidelity wireframes. The rest can be viewed here.
I then created a digital version of the low fidelity wireframes. To replicate Psychology Today's current interface and integrate new features more effectively, I used the HTML to Figma web browser add-on.
ALTERNATE DESIGN PATHS CONSIDERED
I considered making the "New Appointment" section a pop-up window or an entirely separate form. The "pop-in window" proved more intuitive from casual testing with peers.
Having to decide between separate or combined "Reschedule" and "Cancel" appointment buttons was another consideration. Through casual testing again, peers confirmed that separate buttons were more intuitive.
USABILITY TESTING
A total of five participants (2 Practitioners and 2 non-Practicioners) were tested on the five user stories. In each user story/objective, 3-5 tasks were assigned to each user.
User Story 1:
As a Provider, I want a new built-in Calendar within the PsychologyToday.com “Availability” form. I want to create basic events with the option to make them recurring and with Day, Week, Month, and Year calendar views.
Login as a Professional and find the PsychologyToday Calendar.
Toggle between the Week, Day, Month, and Year calendar views.
From the Week view, add a new non-repeating calendar event for: Wed, 6/29 from 11AM-12PM for John Doe.
User Story 2+3:
As a Provider, I want to be able turn on/off the proposed “Self-Service Appointment” feature from my Settings. When enabled, this allows visitors of my Profile to schedule their first appointment or screening while on my Profile.
As a Provider, I want to be able to turn on/off an external calendar integration from my Settings. With the Integration, I want to bi-directionally sync my calendar events/appointments with my Psychology Today Calendar and external calendar. This means, when I create an Event in an external calendar or Psychology Today Calendar, the event will show up on both Calendars.
As a Provider, toggle on the "Self-Service Appointment" feature.
Access the calendar again and toggle on the "External Calendar Sync" feature.
Follow the steps on screen to login to your Google Calendar and integrate the calendar into your PsychologyToday calendar.
From Google Calendar, add a non-repeating calendar event for: Thurs, 6/30 from 11AM-12PM for John Doe's Follow-Up Appointment.
(Note the events created on both calendars are bi-directionally synced.)
User Story 4:
As an end-user seeking therapy, I want a self-service booking process where I can view a Provider’s Psychology Today page, see a calendar of their availability, and book a phone screening or my first appointment. During the process I want to confirm my session cost and location.
As end-user seeking therapy, look for a therapist in the 90210 area named Dr. Steven Stone.
Using the Self-Service Appointment feature, schedule yourself for an In-Person, 1 Hour Evaluation for Fri, Jul 1 at 11AM.
User Story 5:
As an end-user seeking therapy, after booking my first appointment via the self-service process, I want an immediate an email confirmation with the following details: appointment time, date, address, and a link which takes me to a web page where I can modify/cancel the appointment.
Reschedule Jane's appointment for the same day but for 1PM.
When finished, press "R" on your keyboard to restart the flow. Now, cancel the appointment instead.
USABILITY TESTING - KEY FINDINGS
40%
Could not intuitively find the new Psychology Today calendar.
20%
Wanted to add a “call-to-action” button to add an Event on the calendar in addition to being able to double-click a calendar day to add an Event.
100%
Of the remaining tasks were completed by the users in an intuitive and timely matter.
PRIORITY REVISIONS
Revision #1:
The new calendar could not be accessed from the "Provider Home" page. Previously, the calendar could only be accessed through the "Edit Profile" screen.
I added a direct link to the calendar from the "Provider Home" screen.
Revision #2:
The only way to add a new calendar event was to double click the day.
A Call-to-Action button was added to provide users with another option.
05. FINAL DESIGNS
Interactive Prototype
06. REFLECTIONS + NEXT STEPS
CHALLENGES
A Specific User Base It was challenging to work with practitioners due to their limited availability. When they had a full client load, it was difficult to schedule interviews and phone calls. For future projects, I will be mindful of the population I am working with and will make sure to carve out availability in advance, especially if they are a busy or specific population.
Workflow Variance Different therapists have different workflows. This can be anything from practitioners not wanting clients to schedule their own appointments to practitioners wanting a very comprehensive scheduling process. As a designer and researcher, it is my responsibility to use my research insights to decide what core features should be included in the design. I also need to take into account the variances in users' workflows.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
Add "Reason for Visit" and "Insurance Information" to the Self-Service Appointment flow.
Add fields for clients to enter their credit card information in order to pay for their first appointment.
Integrate existing Psychology Today client data from their client database.
Allow self-cancellation of appointments to be enabled or disabled.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It was particularly insightful to hear the stories of people seeking therapy and how their experiences vary and the opportunities that may exist for improving their experience by design. Ultimately,
As a result, I was able to integrate and add functionality to an existing website with minimal change to the overall architecture.
I developed a MVP that allowed users to schedule their first therapy appointment independently without requiring assistance from their therapist.
Defining the scope of a project is vital, since too many features could have prolonged the project.
SOURCES
[1] Memon, Anjum, et al. “Perceived Barriers to Accessing Mental Health Services Among Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Communities: A Qualitative Study in Southeast England.” BMJ Open, vol. 6, no. 11, BMJ, Nov. 2016, p. e012337. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012337.
[2] Kodish, Tamar, et al. “Enhancing Racial/Ethnic Equity in College Student Mental Health Through Innovative Screening and Treatment.” Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, vol. 49, no. 2, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Sept. 2021, pp. 267–82. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-021-01163-1.
[3] Rice, Simon M., et al. “Young Men’s Access to Community-based Mental Health Care: Qualitative Analysis of Barriers and Facilitators.” Journal of Mental Health, vol. 27, no. 1, Informa UK Limited, Jan. 2017, pp. 59–65. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2016.1276528.