EverGreen
An investigation into mental health and technology.
ResearchIoTARImage from vectorstock
A problem with global roots
According to the World Health Organization, 450 million people worldwide suffer from mental and behavioral disorders (WHO). The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that 50% of mental health conditions begin by age 14 and 75% develop by the age of 24.
In the United States, 37.6% of individuals with a mental illness do not receive treatment (APA).
Vision video
Problem
Increased costs in healthcare and a social stigma against mental health concerns call for a new approach to cognitive healthcare.
Vision
EverGreen is a multimodal platform that promotes positive social interactions and mental health by tracking brain activity, practicing preventative treatment, and incorporating advancing technology and trends.
Cognitive exercises to relieve stress and build mental health.
Don’t just post, plant your thoughts where others can find them.
Guided or unguided, record your story of personal growth.
We learned that users wanted measurable results from their effort. The work of Dr. Leanne Williams showed that combining Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with EEG feedback could greatly improve an individuals efforts towards mental health.
EverGreen helps users record and understand their brain activity while guiding them through preventative care exercises.
We leveraged the existing Muse EEG framework to bring live-feed EEG data into the platform. This integration transmits 5 Channels of brainwave activity to a Bluetooth enabled device, allowing users to receive brain activity feedback similarly to popular heartrate tools.
Cognitive feedback
A community garden
Through a week-long study, we found that individuals struggling with their mental health used social interaction and exploration to create positive shifts in their moods.
EverGreen lets users choose between posting in a forum or “planting” their idea in a real world location. Other users can help this idea “grow” by responding to the post or visiting the location - creating a unique connection with the content.
This feature was prototyped using Unity and the Vuforia AR library and provided an APK for final submission.
Integrated journaling
Study participants also told us that journaling helps to create positive shifts in their mental state.
We combined journaling with the adaptive activity tracker inside the EverGreen app. Users receive personalized prompts based on their personalities and journey : everything from scrapbooking to creative writing exercises! These prompts help users re-frame scenarios, stimulate relaxation, and provide a safe space for processing.
Survey
My team and I started this project with the goal of transforming healthcare. It was our research that revealed the need and opportunities specific to mental healthcare.
We received feedback from 54 individuals who self-reported struggling with their mental health.
Journaling exercise
We collaborated with 6 individuals on a one week journaling exercise. They let us into their personal experiences and the techniques they used to maintain or improve their mental health.
We used these insights to form hypothesis for helpful user features inside the app.
Professional opinion
We spoke with 5 healthcare about the current trends and practices in preventative care.
We used this information to adjust our hypothesis, and iterate features to align to professional opinions.
Conclusion
Evergreen continues to be one of my favorite projects. I believe in the mission, I learned how to integrate AR markers and package an Android App from Unity, and it inspired me to explore more challenging development projects!