My following approach
To distance myself a bit more from my own experiences and take the role of a User Researcher, i plan to create an online survey about migraine with and without aura. The goal will be to ask participants for the individual experience of aura and gather more insight into what migraineur’s struggles are. Besides, I would like to find out if they use any tools to track their pain days and if yes, which ones. Lastly, it could be interesting to ask them about a way to simulate an attack to raise awareness about migraine and if they can imagine it to be implemented in VR or with an App or an art installation?
Goals
- collect info about individual experience of aura (migraine profile)
- personal impact of disease on life areas/ struggles
- tracking habits/ used tools to track migraine pain days & symptoms
- identifiying missing features/ improvements in Apps/websites
- awareness gaps (lack of understanding of people who are not affected)
- simulation mediums
Target group
First of all, the target group needs to be defined for the survey:
- migraineurs with aura
- migraineurs without aura
- chronic migraine or episodical migraine
- Do you experience an “aura” before or during your headache?
- Yes, always
- Yes, sometimes
- No
2. How would you describe your aura symptoms? (Select all that apply)
- Zig-zag lines or flashing lights
- Temporary vision loss/blind spots
- Numbness or “pins and needles”
- Difficulty speaking or finding words
- Other:
4. What is the most difficult part of living with migraines for you? (Open text)
5. Which of these life areas is most impacted by your attacks?
- Career/Work productivity
- Social life and friendships
- Family life/Parenting
- Mental health (Anxiety/Depression)
- Other:
7. Do you currently track your pain days or symptoms?
- Yes
- No
- I used to
8. Which medium do you prefer, if you track your migraine?
- Physically (on paper)
- App
- Website
- standard calendar
- Other:
9. If you use an App or Website, which one do you use? (Open text)
11. Do you feel that people who are not affected by migraines truly understand what you go through?
- Scale 1–5: 1 = Not at all, 5 = Completely
12. Do you find it helpful to talk to people that also experience migraine?
- Scale 1-5: 1 = Not at all, 5 = Completely
13. Have you ever seen an “accurate” visualizing or simulation of migraine?
- yes
- no
14. Which medium do you think would be most powerful for a migraine aura simulation?
- Art Installation: An immersive room with lights, sounds, and physical barriers.
- Virtual Reality (VR): Putting on a headset to see/hear symptoms
- Mobile App: An AR (Augmented Reality) filter showing “aura” over the real world
- Other:
Tool
I chose Survey monkey to create my survey since I wanted to try a new tool and after investigating found that it is the best free solution.
