UI/UX Design

NAMAN

Transforming Mental Health Delivery in Rural India
Client

NIMHANS

expertises

UI/UX Design, Requirement Analysis

Industry

Public Health

Timeline

6 Months

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Project details

Overview
The Problem
The solution
the approach
The impact

Designing for Better Mental Health Access

The NAMAN project is an ambitious mental health initiative designed to streamline mental health services for rural India. As the lead UI/UX Designer, I was responsible for every aspect of the project lifecycle, from requirement elicitation to design, development collaboration, and final testing on the test server. My role involved creating a seamless, user-centric platform tailored for a complex ecosystem of stakeholders, including Community Health Workers (CHWs), Primary Health Center (PHC) Medical Officers, and Taluka Mental Health Professionals (MHPs).

The NAMAN program aimed to integrate mental health care with existing public health frameworks by leveraging intuitive technology that caters to non-technical users in remote areas.

The problem

Fragmented Processes, Disconnected Care

Mental health care delivery in rural areas faced significant challenges:

  • Various stakeholders - CHWs (Community Health Workers), PHC MOs (Primary Health Center's Medical Officers), psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, all had different workflows and access levels. Aligning these roles into a unified system was a key challenge.
  • Patients often arrived at medical facilities without appointments, necessitating a system to handle unplanned visits.
  • Without receptionists, patients lacked guidance on which Mental Health Professional (MHP) to visit, which can cause confusion.
  • Appointment times and dates were often flexible and unconfirmed due to resource limitations.
  • CHWs had to handle multiple tasks, including field visits for screenings, manually scheduling appointments, presenting patients at PHCs, and managing tasks assigned by various doctors.
  • Many patients screened positive were reluctant to visit hospitals for further treatment.
  • CHWs working in remote areas needed offline functionality to perform screenings and manage tasks effectively.
  • Non-NAMAN staff, like PHC Medical Officers, were reluctant to adopt detailed data entry processes.
  • The system had to account for future growth, like adding more users, proforma types, and modules without overhauling existing workflows.
The solution

An Inclusive, Modular Design for DIverse Needs

Each module was crafted to address the distinct workflows, constraints, and accessibility challenges faced by its users, ensuring the system could handle offline functionality, flexible appointments, and seamless task coordination.

The project involved designing modules for:
  • Community Health Workers (CHW)
  • Taluka Hospital module (HIS module for Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and Social Workers)
  • PHC/CHC Medical Officers (MO)
  • Program Management
  • Hub & Sub-hub Module (along with Metabase access to reports)

The NAMAN system was crafted to address the diverse and complex challenges of rural mental health delivery through user-centric design and flexible workflows.

Key Features:
  1. Program Management Module
    • Event Management: A centralized system to track and analyze all events, meetings, and awareness activities.
    • IEC Materials CMS: Users can upload, download, and share Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials. Designed with role-based access controls
  2. Flexible Appointment System
    • Introduced appointment flexibility, enabling rescheduling and reminders.
    • Designed a common ‘Today’s Appointment’ view for Taluka Hospitals to guide patients to the appropriate MHP.
    • Enabled cross-role collaboration (if one MHP was unavailable, another could consult, reschedule, or guide the patient)
  3. Unified Case History
    • Created a shared patient history visible to all MHPs with role-based edit permissions.
    • Allowed doctors to save progress on proformas and edit them for up to one week.
  4. Patient-Centric Features
    • Added a ‘Prefer Not to Visit’ option for patients reluctant to attend follow-ups, enabling CHWs to manage them differently.
    • Designed a search functionality to handle walk-in Patients (NAMAN and non-NAMAN patients seamlessly)
    • Included multiple entry points for MHP start consultation with patient (regardless of their screening status and appointment status)
  5. Offline and Consent Management
    • Enabled offline login for CHWs using an OTP-based system for authentication during online sessions.
    • Designed explicit consent management workflows for CHWs to ensure compliance and transparency.
    • Allowed CHWs to save progress during screening and return to complete it later.
  6. Task Management for MHPs
    • Developed functionality for MHPs to track the status of tasks assigned to CHWs.
  7. Conducted user research with CHWs in Belur, gathering insights post-deployment and iterating the design to address usability challenges.
the Approach

User-Centric, Collaborative, and Data-Driven

Designing for rural healthcare systems requires balancing user needs, technical feasibility, and real-world constraints. Our approach emphasized extensive user research, iterative design, and cross-functional collaboration to ensure the system met the diverse requirements of CHWs, MHPs, and program management teams.

  1. Requirement Elicitation
    • Collaborated with NIMHANS and ground teams to map user workflows and identify pain points.
    • Visited Belur to observe CHWs in action, gaining firsthand insights into their challenges post-deployment.
  2. Prototyping & Iteration
    • Designed low-fidelity wireframes for validation, progressively refining them into high-fidelity prototypes.
    • Incorporated feedback from CHWs, MHPs, and program management teams to align with real-world constraints.
Design libraries created for collaboration fo design team as well  development team
  1. Collaboration & Training
    • Partnered with developers for seamless handoff and iteration, ensuring technical feasibility.
    • Conducted training sessions alongside NIMHANS to familiarize users with the new workflows.
  2. Testing & Deployment
    • Performed rigorous testing & UI reviews on the test server, validating functionality across diverse scenarios, including offline usage and unscheduled patient visits.
the impact

Transforming Mental Health Delivery at Scale

The NAMAN project resulted in tangible improvements to rural mental healthcare delivery by addressing logistical and operational bottlenecks. By empowering CHWs and MHPs with user-friendly tools and workflows, we drove higher adoption rates, improved care coordination, and broadened patient reach in Belur Taluka (pilot phase).

  • Achieved 85% screening coverage in Belur Taluka (pilot phase), with over 1,000 patients attending their appointment at Taluka Hospital.
  • Streamlined Care Coordination
    • Unified appointment management and today’s appointment view reduced confusion and improved patient flow at Taluka Hospitals.
    • Improved CHW efficiency by integrating screening, scheduling, and task management.
  • Improved User Adoption
    • Offline login and flexible consent management enhanced CHW adoption, even in remote areas.
    • Common case history and task tracking features streamlined workflows for MHPs.
  • The modular design ensures that future features, such as expanded patient management or additional proformas, can be seamlessly integrated without disrupting existing systems.

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