Making a "Moodmeter": A Glimpse into Next Generation PHR Design

Posted by Lygeia Ricciardi on January 15, 2008

One of the Project HealthDesign teams, the Living Profiles Team, based at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, is developing a PHR application to help adolescents with chronic illnesses transition from pediatric to the adult care system.

What’s really interesting about this team from my perspective is that it is intensely focused on understanding teens and their specific needs, in part by learning from applications that are popular among this age group, such as phone texting, IM, Facebook, and YouTube. Teens use these applications in building social connections--and their social interactions with each other often incorporate how they are feeling.

Naturally, how you are feeling can be very relevant from a health perspective, as well as a purely social one. The Living Profiles Team is trying to come up with ways that teens can convey their feelings to caregivers through a PHR. A member of the team, Gilad Lotan, has been blogging about some of the interesting questions that arise, such as “What is a mood, anyway?” And “How can you use images to convey it?” Have a look at Gilad’s blog for more.