BeFriend: An app to combat loneliness and stress among international students in the UK
For my Dissertation for MSc, I designed an app for international students in the UK regarding their mental health after relocating to the UK. As an international student in the UK myself, I was prone to a plethora of issues. Upon talking to my classmates, I found out that most of them had similar issues as well. This led me to talk to one of the occupational therapists at NHS who suggested that the issue needs to be taken care of. Throughout the project, I realised that mental health is to be given the utmost priority.
My role
UX Research, UI/UX Design, Testing, Illustration, Branding
The Problem
International students bring tremendous diversity, value and cultural exchange to the country However, migrating to an entirely new country to pursue education can be a demanding and stressful process emotionally, mentally, and physically. Students who must manage daily tasks by themselves in a new environment during the move from college to university may experience a number of psychological impacts, including loneliness and social isolation.
80% of the interview respondents said that they initially felt lonely and stressed out after moving to the UK
What if we could create a common language about mental health for international students in the UK in an uncommon way?
The solution
BeFriend is an application designed for international students in the UK to express their emotions, log moods and widen their social circle to promote healthy transition from one country to the other.
Why this project?
As an international student in the UK, the researcher hadn’t been away from the family for more than 6 months at once. The researcher was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder in 2018, which led to issues relating decline in interpersonal communication and lack of energy. Upon conversing with peers, it was found that even though their mental health did not manifest into a disorder, it was quite evident that most of them suffered from loneliness and/or stress and/or homesickness and/or a sense of not knowing where to being a new life in a new country. This issue became the baseline of idea for the final project at Kingston University. Upon conducting informal research with an Occupational Therapist at NHS and a few students from other university, it was suggested that Mental Health of International students in the UK is declining. The waiting time at NHS is lengthy (based on experience), thus, receiving professional support from NHS was the last support for the researcher. The situation was particularly bad during the researcher’s initial days in the UK. There was no peer support, and the absence of family and time zone difference made it even worse. The researcher searched the internet and all available apps like Totum, Unidays etc. but none of the apps/websites catered to all the major needs of the researcher.
It was not clear where to start and what events to attend, how to make friends and where to find them. There were times when the researcher felt lonely due to the lack of someone to talk to. This helped the researcher solidify the idea for the final project. With a focus on providing companionship and events to attend nearby, it would act as the starting point not only for the researcher, but other international students who are new to the UK. Support during initial days is much needed as it would help international students’ mental health to not worsen. Better mental health would aid in being healthy physically as well.
Having good mental health and physical health would enable international students in the UK to perform better at university and jobs, thereby increasing productivity; which the app aims for in the long term run.
Design Methodology
Design thinking + Sprint Planning (with participatory design techniques embedded). Participatory design methods such as card sorting, cognitive mapping, interviews, cultural probes, usability test, guerrilla test, usability tests etc. were used.
Target Users
International students in the UK who are above 18 years old, any gender, on a Tier 4 student visa in the UK (without direct family members). Access to smartphone and social media is beneficial but not mandatory.
Research
speaking with the target audience to learn more about the topic being addressed while observing and interacting with participants to comprehend their difficulties and experiences. A human-centered design method, such as the design thinking process, requires empathy for the users. It will still be necessary to considerably expand on the study that has already been done on a sample data set in order to acquire a deeper knowledge, particularly of international students and their experiences when relocating to the UK.
Quantitative Research
A survey containing five sections were sent across among 103 participants.
Convenient Sampling method was used. Participants were briefed and informed about the anonymity of sensitivity of information. The primary aim of the survey was to get number-based countable data that is measurable and to understand the peripheral needs and feelings of international students in the UK. The survey consisted of 5 sections, Introduction to the survey, Demographic and ethnographic details, close-ended questions that consisted of questions relating to mental health of international students after coming to the UK, willingness to participate in qualitative research and conclusion.
Findings
Referring to the results obtained from the survey majority of the participants belonged to the age group of 18–35 years. The gender was classified into male and female out of which there was a slight increase in the number of men who participated in the survey (56.9%). 55.9% of participants constituted post-graduate level students followed by 37.3% undergraduate students. Just over half the number of total survey respondents were away from their home country for 1–3 years and 92.1% of the total participants were active on social media.
100% respondents felt either homesick or lonely during their time in the UK as an international student. 62.7% students tried making friends online but could not keep up the friendship. 61.4% students felt deeply connected to their family back in their home country and 69% students relied on friends as their primary support system. However, over 53% students felt agitated because their friends talked behind their back.
93% of survey respondents were interested to join clubs/events based on interests/hobbies to make friends and reduce loneliness. 57% respondents were aware of AI chatbots to reduce loneliness and 64% were ready to use them to tackle loneliness and homesickness.
Qualitative Research
For qualitative research, the first method used was user interviews supported by cultural probe kit. For user interviews, 5 participants were recruited with participants needed poster, which were displayed in the washrooms in Kingston University. Along with posters, participants known to the researcher was contacted who belonged to the target audience and were willing to participate. Ethics documents were exchanged and signed before the interview. The interview. 6 introductory questions and 17 semi-structured open-ended questions were asked. The interview was taken online via teams which lasted for about 30–45 minutes. 5 participants were recruited. The primary aim of the user interview was to collect in-depth information about the pain points, frustrations, issues faced by international students in the UK relating to their mental health, and the scope of developing a project aimed at improving mental health among the target audience.
Findings
3/5 participants stated that they moved to the UK during the peak time of COVID and loneliness was a major factor combined with social isolation. The feeling peaked after 6 months from the time they came to the UK. 2/5 participants moved to the UK in January 2022, when COVID subsided, even though they faced loneliness, it was not as high as compared to the first three participants.
- 4/5 participants stated that they tried keeping themselves busy with their smartphones by endless scrolling of social media and watching movies during holidays/weekends when they were affected by low mood, the most. However, they used to get bored. 1/5 participant stated that they wished they stayed back in their home country rather than coming to the UK for studies.
- The average time spent by a participant on their devices (laptop/watch/phone/tablet etc.) was more than 6–8 hours a day.
- 2/5 participants stated that they had trouble making friends. Even if they made friends, they could not meet often, which led to receding friendship, which ultimately made them lonely again. One of the participants had trust issues and had trouble trusting people whom they barely knew.
- 1/5 participant had a diagnosed mental health condition (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) which led them to be afraid of crowd. Even though they had some friends, they could not bear the sight of crowd which would trigger a panic attack
The root cause for mental health issues among the participants were lack of social integration and reduced interpersonal communication probably because of social isolation. One of the participants had a diagnosed mental health condition. Most of the participants used smartphone to keep themselves busy.
The use of smartphones to the user busy, combined with the willingness to widen their social network / talk openly about their feelings in a safe and confidential place, expanded the scope of the project further as a clear gap in the society was being addressed.
Expert interview findings
There are two types of triggers, environmental stressors, and genetic components. The former includes transitions, trauma, learning problems or physical problems. Genetic predispositions to mental health may/may not be paired with environmental factors.
- Loneliness may manifest in different forms like being agitated, irritable or angry. Since each student comes from a totally different background, it cannot be expected that all of them exhibit the same traits. Some may be sad, some may be extra cringy, some, angry while some recede from social life. Negative thinking is also very common.
- Major factors that contribute to loneliness among international students is the total change in their environment. They are uprooted from their habitat and replanted in an entirely different environment. Some may be able to adapt quickly while some take years or months. Understanding and exploring oneself can help a lot as it helps to understand the triggers and possibly taking a step back and having a different outlook of they feel that the situation might trigger loneliness. If they’re already triggered, it might be beneficial to retrospect after sometime and see what went wrong so that it can be avoided/thought differently in the future.
- Talking to friends/family and hanging out with them is highly beneficial as that usually makes people happy. Humans are social animals. Being socially involved releases happy hormones known as Serotonin.
- There was mixed opinion about the digital companion as the expert saw a sleek chance that it might give wrong responses which might do more harm than good in certain situations. However, they stated that if the companion behaved just like a human, who remembered everything that was said before, and learning to adapt from what was told, it would probably be beneficial.
Cultural Probe kits
For Qualitative research, the alternate method used was cultural probes. For cultural probe kit, 5 kits containing a cultural probe booklet and stationaries were distributed among 5 participants belonging to the target audience. Briefing was given to each participant individually and after each participants completed the probe; debriefing was done individually at the end as well.
Affinity Diagram
After transcribing the transcripts, they were analyzed. Keywords were identified and extracted along with quotes from the users. They were grouped based on themes, sub-themes, sub-sub themes and so on. The image below depicts the affinity diagram. The first figure is the extracted keywords, second, grouped into themes, third, grouped into sub themes and sub-sub themes.
Key Insights
Feelings of the participants — Negative, emotional, neutral
- Frequency of device usage — 6 to 8 hours a day
- Compelling attributes — Loneliness forced them to use social media so that they could escape loneliness, but the usage of social media further triggered loneliness, which eventually became a vicious loop.
- Technology adaptation — most of the participants were already acquainted with technology.
- Goals — become more socially involved, eat healthy, focus on assignments, avoid stressors
Empathy Maps
Participatory design was incorporated into the development of empathy maps via cognitive mapping. Two users were recruited via telephone and briefed about the activity. Their willingness to participate in the session was recorded. Ethics documents were signed and handed over before the start of the interview. The session was conducted online which lasted about 50 minutes each. During the session, Miro board was used and the mental picture of the layout of their thoughts regarding mental health were obtained. When the participant got struck, they were given a little push by providing a probe.
Two different persona archetypes emerged as per their characteristics and situation.
Panicky Lass — Who already have friends but finds it difficult to interact with them because they’re not interested/they’re anxious and cannot trust people easily. They have social anxiety and are often overthinking and introverted.
Reliability Seeker — Who has less to null friends but wants to take an effort to make friends. They’re able to make friends but cannot retain them. They have extremely good capacity to talk to larger audience but finds it difficult to have deep conversations with a single person. They act without thinking and are often ambivert/extrovert.
Personas
With the identified archetype and information from the qualitative research, two personas emerged. Annie Dillon and Michael Ox.
Annie is an international student from Ireland who belongs to the category of “panicky lass” while Michael is from Ethiopia who is a reliability seeker.
Storyboard
To understand a specific situation of user and how the user would interact with the app, two storyboards were developed based on the narrative scenarios of the two personas. This helped to understand the gaps within existing knowledge of the topic.
Customer Journey Maps
The customer journey map also made it possible to analyze the emotions consumers had at various points, enabling the creation of an all-encompassing solution that takes their requirements and sentiments into account.
User Stories
Excerpts were developed from the viewpoint of the user regarding a certain feature in order to portray the behaviors and wants of the user group. This method assisted in finding the best answer to the user’s issue by allowing the production of a variety of ideas that might be transformed into features.
How Might We…?
Questions based on “How Might We” (HMW) were created to help solve design problems. These questions don’t offer prescriptive solutions; rather, they offer a framework for creative thinking and making sure that the ideas produced match the issues noted in the prior stage.
Ideation — Semantic Environment
The semantic environment canvas was downloaded from the Internet and uploaded on Miro. One canvas was filled at a time. For each section individual brainstorming was conducted. 2–3 minutes were taken to brainstorm characteristics into the environment. The following questions were considered
- What are the environment’s key terms, including its basic metaphors?
- What is the general area of discourse
- What are the intended purposes of this environment?
Following the prompts, the points on the left were thought about and the answers were written down on the canvas.
Ideation — Crazy 8s
Crazy 8s is a good ideation technique which has become the mainstream with the rise of design sprints. Since it is time constrained, it is fun and fast to complete the session. A paper is taken and folded into half, half again and one more time creating 8 Boxes. The timer is set for eight minutes and in the given time, 8 different ideas have to be drawn — giving one minute per idea.
Competitor Analysis
Finding a market gap and understanding the competitors’ advantages and disadvantages in relation to the app are the goals of a competitor analysis. Because it will aid in identifying ways in which the strategies might be improved, a competition analysis is crucial. Direct and indirect competitors were analyzed. Direct competitors offer similar products in the same market while Indirect competitors offer different products but have the same customer needs.
Card Sorting
Card sorting is a participatory design technique where the participants sort out labels for content into categories. It provides an idea about how the product’s content should be grouped which enabled the researcher to develop the information architecture which would make sense to the users of the app. There were 17 labels and 5 pre-defined categories. Since the study mode was hybrid, the user could generate their own categories as well. The labels were shuffled, and the participant had to place the labels that they thought would belong together into categories. The participants were debriefed. Common groups and themes that emerged from the technique were noted and combined to understand what organization system would be successful for the target audience.
Information Architecture
Similar to a blueprint, information architecture (IA) is a visual depiction of the infrastructure, features, and hierarchy of the app.
Upon researching further about modes and size of information that is provided to the user at one go, it was found that app walkthroughs don’t work well which it comes to activating new users as it effectively dumps a plethora of information in one go. Most users won’t have the attention span to retain it and become even more confused.
Hence, interactive walkthroughs were used in the app where the user was encouraged to interact with the app and learn by doing. Different sections of the app were introduced at a slower pace and as and when introduced, the user could try it out. Subtle notifications were given out and the users could decide whether to use the app within the suggested path or explore it by themselves.
The notification for interactive walkthrough was placed in the “Okay to reach” area of “The Thumb Zone” as per the image below since it would be beneficial for the user to try out without feeling intimidated and compelled to try it out. The primary focus was still on other buttons placed within “Easy to reach” range.
The image below shows the Information Architecture. The Red path shows the Interactive walkthrough path and the Black path is the general path where the user can explore the app on their own.
Lo-fidelity prototype
After analyzing the insights from NUF Test and ideation techniques, very rough and paper sketches of wireframes were created to understand the features and the interactive walkthrough that was needed. It acted as a rough outline of the core functionality of the product thereby acting as a starting point for further development. The image below shows the paper prototypes and the link for clickable prototypes.
Findings from quick guerrilla testing
The user could not relate to why both university email ID and personal email ID was being asked. They thought that it increased the time during onboarding. However, with the purpose for asking both the IDs (student verification) was confirmed, they understood the purpose but suggested that a section be added which made the users understand why two IDs are being asked for registration should a question arise.
The “add photo” section could not be skipped, and some participants did not want to add a photo initially but explore the functionalities of the app.
SOS button was present only on the home screen, but 3/5 users suggested that the SOS and notification button be present in every screen as it would make it more accessible should an emergency arise.
5/5 users liked the idea of having a timeline for journal which is a one stop location for all the information shared.
Mid-fidelity wireframe
Based on the feedback received earlier, necessary changes were made in the design and were developed into mid fidelity wireframes which aided in visualizing the layout of the screens more accurately. Only the major screens were developed at this point so that the focus on getting the right solution is not lost. The image below represents the mid fidelity wireframes
User flow
The route a typical user would take via a website or app to finish a job is known as the user flow. The image below represents the user flow developed for the scope of this project. Each colored sections depict various core functionalities of the app.
Wire flow
A distinct hierarchy of information needed to be established in order to improve the user experience. The user’s ability to accomplish their goals may be hampered even if the screens are aesthetically pleasing if the system’s information architecture is unclear or challenging to use. Therefore, it was essential to design a clear and uncomplicated movement between screens so that consumers could effectively and intuitively experience the real use of the app. The following diagram illustrates the wire flow of this app. Again, only major screens were touched upon.
Style Guide
A style guide was developed to have a consistent look and feel to the design of the app. The style guide was influenced by the mood board based on keywords like, Iris, Trustworthy Understanding and Loyal. The selected color palette passed the color contrast ratio. The images below show the Style guide, mood board, the color contrast ratio, components, imageries, and icons. Components, imageries, and icons were defined after the style guide was developed which aligned according to the guide. All the imageries were drawn by the researcher on Procreate and vectorized with Illustrator.
High-fidelity prototype
The next phase was to convert the mid-fidelity wireframe into high-fidelity, aesthetically pleasing designs that accurately represented the finished product after developing the design style guide and component library (as specified in the style guide). Clear labels and correct colors, which serve to create a realistic depiction of the intended product, are characteristics of these designs.
Link to Clickable Prototype: here
Findings from formative evaluation
- Homepage icon was smaller in size in the bottom navigation bar
- Spacing issues in “My wellbeing” section.
- Contrast ratio issues in “My wellbeing” section due to overuse of drop shadows.
- Break of flow while adding profile photo
Testing
The product will undergo thorough testing utilizing the best solutions discovered. The information gathered during this phase will be utilized to revisit the difficulties identified previously and help users better grasp how the Target Audience thinks, behaves, and feels, even though it will be the penultimate step because the process is iterative.
Usability Test
High-fidelity prototypes were developed after 2 iterations. The overarching aim of summative evaluation was to study the ease of use of the app and compare it with Replika app to understand the short comings in the High-Fidelity design and overall experience which would be scoped under future improvements. CIF Methodology was adapted in the usability test.
Reserach Questions
How is the overall experience of the app?
Does the app reduce the cause for which it was developed?
Out of Befriend and Replica app, which one does the user think helps reduce issues faced by international students in the UK?
Type of Test: A/B Test
Type of Comparison: Repeated measures test where all the users test both the apps to understand which one serves the needs of international students in the UK
Testing Method: Moderated Online tests which was conducted over Teams that lasted 60 minutes.
Participants: 4 Participants were recruited via convenience sampling technique who belonged to the target group.
Test Findings
Discussion
Befriend is an iOS application that aims to address a clear gap among international students in the UK and relevance of loneliness and stress as a factor that contributes to worsening of mental health. These preliminary results suggested that a free mobile application could function as an accessible resource to encourage students to promote mutual aid. Students reported that many could not receive psychological care due to the high semestral demands of the university’s counselling service and increased waiting times at NHS.
The interface was updated to conform to the state-of-the-art for designing high efficacy mobile applications for mental health among international students and loneliness reduction interventions using digital technology after receiving favorable feedback from the target audience through usability tests with the first prototype version. The initial features of the app consisted of 4 major features.
- Digital Assistant called Foxy
- Journaling based on timeline
- Events in and outside university
- Friends who can be messaged in-app
The app also had sub features such as Talking to Foxy over voice command. As a part of the iterative process, a smartwatch feature was also worked upon, but at this point, it is still in the early stages of development. The basic elements of these apps were made to be adaptable in a range of situations, allowing students to use them as needed. This would close the gap between students and those in good mental health, as the latter frequently lack the knowledge necessary to proceed in the face of emotional or psychological distress or are unable to seek such services because of the lengthy waits for the right kind of care.
High concentration was given to the research phase as it helped to form a solid baseline of this project. Throughout the research two main personas emerged who pivoted majority of the define phase. In the ideation phase, semantic environment and crazy 8s were used as ideation techniques as semantic environment helped to create a conversational scenario while crazy 8s gave a plethora of ideas that could be used to idealize the conversational scenario. People belonging to the Target Audience were encouraged the maximum to participate in the design process so that it is live and iterative.
Rationale
Conclusion
The use of many methods in this study enabled us to gather information that may be utilized to inform the development of an app that would assist university students feel less lonely and isolated. The results indicate that the general idea of the application is encouraging for forging closer ties between international and local students. The evaluation of participant interview and cultural probe extracts provides some understanding of the unique requirements and difficulties for app creation in this situation. Unsurprisingly, there is a bad correlation between sociability and seclusion. The perception of culture has a moderately positive association with both scores in opposing directions. People who display their social skills more frequently report that the surrounding foreign culture seems friendlier to them. People who are more likely to isolate themselves claim that the culture is less friendly. Feelings of loneliness and their detrimental effects are probably strongly influenced by this interaction of self-isolation and unfavorable perception of the environment. Men don’t differ from women in their propensities to socialize in this situation, but men seem to have a stronger need to isolate themselves. In light of this, the following design considerations can be drawn. There is very no correlation between gender and social media use and readiness to try mental health apps. However, there is a tepid connection with sociability. Reclusion also shows a little negative association. The fact that those who would gain the most from an app to boost mental wellbeing are less eager to try it suggests a potential difficulty for the design process. At the same time, users of such an app who enjoy socializing are inclined to use it. The ability to create social chances through events and the potential to create a supportive community through a secure and functioning application were among the functionalities that participants most anticipated, according to the results of all the evaluations. Although Digital Assistant was less well received, both features will remain in the upcoming release to allow for a deeper evaluation of their potential to reduce resource consumption.
The purpose of this application’s development is to initially assess how effective it is in a small university setting. However, it is anticipated that this application will be expanded and made available to additional university communities throughout the world in the future, depending on how well the resource is received and the data gathered.
