ACT for Pharmacy Access

The full scaled version on an iMac screen

The smaller version in a small window

After much hard work and changing of the map I used I finished the web project. You can view it at pharmacy.actforwomenandgirls.org

All of the 48 Tulare county pharmacies that were graded by the secret shoppers are available viewable on the map view and rate-able on the website.

The goal of the project is to make a platform to expand upon the pharmacy access work and help users in the central valley of California know where to go for emergency contraception. California's central valley is one of the most conservative in the nation, with the highest rate of teen pregnancy. The project empowers youth in the ACT for Women and Girls programs to secret shop the local pharmacies and rate them based on their availability of EC, birth control, condoms, and their friendliness to teens. The shopping experience is then scored and that score is given a "grade" (A,B,C,D, and F). All A rated pharmacies are given the ACT Approved stamp on the website.

Moreover, the website encourages users to rate the pharmacies for themselves and those ratings are calculated on each pharmacy page in a star rating. I have also added a color coding system to the map, so that it is easy to see which are the A rated pharmacies. 

 The project was built on Wordpress and CartoDB with custom MySQL. API, html, and css integration. The design and development process was a long one, because I focused on user centered design practices to create it. I had three onsite visits which included three rounds of focus groups and two rounds of user tests with the local youth throughout the process. The finishing design iterations were conducted remotely with phone calls and Skype. 

The process has been amazing and rewarding and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

I conducted User Tests for the Pharmacy Access project. The tests followed the following structure, with of course, room for improvisation. 

I tested users, both men and women between the ages of 16-22 who live in Tulare County. I was trying to get honest and direct observations of the users experience navigating the final app prototype as well as thoughts and concerns. 

Questions

What is your name?

What is your age? 

Where do you live?

What do you think this website is for?

How do you like the design overall? 

Tasks

1. Find a Teen friendly Pharmacy in Dinuba

2. Have you been to this pharmacy?

3. How would you rate it? Show me. 

4. Can you show me how you would find directions to this pharmacy? 

5. How would you rate that experience on a scale of 1 - 5: one being terrible and five being excellent? 

Key Findings

Overall the users liked the design look and feel. It is eye catching while still feeling clean. They thought it was an app for rating pharmacies. 

Task 1.

All the users used the landing page map to navigate to the pharmacy. No one used top navigation.  

The mobile user had trouble navigating the map on her phone. She was not sure if the icon would head to the pharmacy directly or take her to a pop up window. 

Task 2.

Users had all been to the pharmacy in Dinuba. They both had positive experiences there. 

Task 3

Users rated the pharmacy between four and five stars out of five and both found it easy to rate them

The mobile user noted that the pop up window star rating was easy to use. 

Task 4

Finding directions to the pharmacy was intuitive: both users clicked on the embedded map. However on the mobile phone, the map opened Google Maps in a new window with only latitude and longitude listed. 

Task 5

The web app experience on the laptop was rated at a 5. 

The app experience on a mobile phone was rated at a 4. 

Here are the brainstorming notes from the Pharmacy Access Focus Group. We worked on gathering ideas for content types in each of the sections of the mobile app. I made some paper prototypes of the Mobile site and the user experience and took down their critiques and suggestions. 

I had each participant take a different color sticky note set and write down their ideas, questions, and concerns on the notes. One idea per note. As we went though the different topics they places their notes on the paper, then we discussed what they had posted. That served as a structure for the brainstorming and a way to capture their ideas in writing. 

Here are some pictures from the ACT for Pharmacy Access Focus Group and brainstorming about the mobile website. We reviewed the new Condom Covers and info card inserts.  Then we brainstormed and talked about features of the mobile PA website. 

Here are some links to design inspiration links for the Pharmacy Access mobile website. 

Healthgrades

Planned Parenthood

TeenSource

These charts examine my findings on the way Central Valley youth access the internet and prefer to access content on their mobile devices. Primarily youth access the internet through their mobile phones, with some accessing the internet through their home or school computers. 

I also found that they prefer mobile websites to downloading apps on their phones. However a number of youth would do both interchangeably. During the focus group, many youth cited issues of flash drive space on mobile phones as the primary reason for using mobile browsing over app downloads. Moreover, they were more inclined to use mobile phones for private, confidential and sensitive information, because parents would not have access to that. When it came to reproductive information youth were all concerned with privacy in this way. 

This lead me to believe that a responsive mobile website would be the best choice for ACT as a platform for the ACT for Pharmacy Access project. 

As part of the work I did with ACT over the week I spend onsite, I created a new color palette for the organization. This will be part of their print and web designs for the future. I also recolored their combo-mark logo to create design unity. 

I have tested both items on the web and in print materials. The colors and revised logo should give ACT a fresh boost of youthful, colorful energy. 

WHO does ACTfW+G support, and who are we trying to reach through this project? ACT works with young women from primarily marginalized, latino families in the Central Valley rural communities. The youth range from ages 14-24.  WHAT does ACTfW+G do, and within that context, what are we working to achieve? ACT for Women and Girls (ACT) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization located in the Central Valley of California. ACT began as a grassroots effort to examine the needs of rural, marginalized women and girls, majority Latina, and create leadership opportunities for them.  The mission of ACT is to engage women of all ages in leadership opportunities that will promote social and personal change. ACT was founded in 2005 with the creation of the Female Leadership Academy (FLA), and has expanded to four other leadership programs, including the Peer Education ACTion Team.  WHERE does ACTfW+G do its work, and where will this project's output be situated? ACT Works in the Central Valley of California.  This project will be on the web and available through a mobile responsive website to people all over the world. However the target is to expand the project to other reproductive health Orgs that would like to work with this and the Pharmacy Access toolkit.  HOW does ACTfW+G conduct its work, and within that, how will this project connect and extend SPARK's efforts? ACT does its work through two primary programs. The Pharmacy Access Project and report card is part of the Female Leadership Academy and the Peer Education Program. I am unclear about SPARK. WHEN does ACTfW+G do its work, and how does that impact this project? The Pharmacy Access Project and report card is part of the Female Leadership Academy and the Peer Education Program. The Pharmacy Access is a required part of both programs, so all youth work participate in this. FLA runs from October - May with 10 - 15 youth. Peer Education has two cycles per year with 12 - 16 participants per year. About 30 youth per year participate in the Pharmacy Access per year.  This project will benefit from connecting with both of the timelines of these programs. If we are going to promote the digital piece of the Pharmacy Access project, then we need to have these participants work to do that on the ground and digitally through social media. 

Check out the ACT for Women and Girls focus group on ACT for Pharmacy Access and technology use with Niki Selken. 

Check out the gallery on Flickr:

Pharmacy Access Focus Group | June 25, 2014

  Technology:

8/10 participants have a smart phone

5/10 participants have a tumblr account

Taking the survey online v. hardcopy

  Paper was easier:

Right in front of you

On web – have to go find it

Submit button annoying

Don’t have a tumblr account

Scrolling was annoying

Internet was slow

  Which are you more thorough with?

Paper

allow you to write more, more options (9)

Internet

stream of thought comes easier (Michelle)

Have a computer at home (Michelle)

  Does having a computer at home change how you feel about using online tools?

Seems that those with computers at home feel that using a computer to generate stream of thought is easiest. Majority of participants do not have computer at home, and primarily use phones.

  How do you feel about moving PharmAcces to online v. hard?

Comment section would be like the App Store – you can check out the comments v. a grade. Grade would remain “ACT verified”

  Participants feel that their peers believe that anything online is easier (not necessarily means it is actually easier)

  Will your peers CALL a pharmacy?

No… teens live on the internet

“When I had unprotected sex, I felt like I was too young and I didn’t know, then I got pregnant” (teen mom)

Feel more comfortable

  Privacy

Worried about parents finding out

If it’s an app, you can hid it on the mess of aps on your phone

Parental confidentiality is a must

Phones are more private than computer

No search history

  Application v. Mobile Site

Mobile friendly easier for phone storage

4/10 definitely prefer mobile friendly

4/10 do both

2/10 app

Peers don’t have phones – use computers or friends’ phones

Access to the report card

Our participants have access to ACT staff or knowledge because of training, their peers may Google the “morning after pill”

  Safety Kit Prototype

Like the brightness

Wait – are these only A’s? Needs to be stated that there are more options online

Attracts people to grab it – colorful

Parents will see it and immediately ask

Magazine / book style packet – tampon

If already advertised as free condoms, don’t need to continue advertising it

More discrete – all info on the inside

Louder colors are for outreach

Discrete for office distribution

Like the idea of having it on a business card – folding like 559 card

Card for free condom access

Branding for each gender

More neutral pack with cards inside

Info on inclusive relationships (homo, hetero, trans, etc) with links

Survey on how the kit helped inform unsuspecting youth

  Preferred Kit:

Outside should just be logo

Inside remain the same – for the most part

WITH double sided card

Color: Grey (7) – White (1) – black (2)

Double sided card is most important – information is more important than neutrality.

Pharmacy Access Focus Group | June 25, 2014 Notes

 Audience: Ages 16-24 from teen success, peer education, and 2 teen moms.

Agenda

 Introductions

Icebreaker of some kind. 

  Form Questionnaire: Digital and Written

Try two different forms: Digital and Written on simple topics. Discuss the difference between the forms.

  Questions about forms:

Which made you want to fill it out more? 

Do you feel more comfortable using digital or written forms? 

What makes you want to fill out the forms? Interest in sharing with friends, interest in topic, 

  Technology Use Questionnaire (Digital)

Questioner on technology use and access then group discussion. Include use of mobile, laptop, Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, etc. 

  privacy, location, anonymity, clinic confidentiality 

access to internet through devices 

How did the form feel to you? 

Would you fill this out if it was on Facebook? 

  Discuss Pharmacy Report Cards