YaYa

A Dental Anxiety Companion System For Pre-teens

MY ROLE

Research
Branding
3D Modeling
Prototyping
Interaction Design
UI UX Design

TEAM

Mobei Qian
Qianzi Wen

TIMELINE

Mar - May 2024

TOOLS

Figma
Spline
Photoshop

Overview

Visiting the dentist always make people feel a bit nervous and anxious. To better understand and address this, we explored the challenges pre-teens face with dental anxiety, delving into their underlying fears.

YaYa is a Dental Anxiety Companion System designed specifically for pre-teens. It provides a supportive and engaging way for pre-teens to stay distracted while in the waiting room, helping them approach upcoming treatments with a positive, optimistic attitude—no more fear.

The Product

Cleaning the dirty teeth!

Pick the right dental tools to clean up or fix problem teeth, and learn about dental care in a fun, hands-on way!

Try trivia quiz & dental match

Test your dental knowledge with fun trivia questions and see how many you can get right! Then, try your hand at Dental Match, where you'll connect matching dental elements.

Check your appointments

Stay on top of your dental visits by easily viewing your upcoming, previous, and even canceled appointments. This feature helps you stay organized and prepared, so you always know what’s coming up next!

Chat with YaYa & learn dental tips

Got questions or feeling a bit anxious? Share your thoughts, ask anything you’re curious about, and get instant support. Plus, while you’re waiting, check out some cool dental tips videos to learn more about everyday dental care.

A supportive little friend

As your treatment time approaches, you can grab the stress ball and take it with you into the room, offering comfort and support throughout your whole appointment!

Research

Problem Space

What is Dental Fear and Anxiety?

Dental fear and anxiety (DFA) refers to the fear and anxiety towards going to the dentist. It exists in a considerable proportion of children, adolescents, adults and is a major dilemma in pediatric dental practice

Source: methoddental

How common is dental anxiety?

Dental anxiety, or dental fear, is estimated to affect approximately 36% of the population
Over 75% of adults experience dental anxiety or fear

Primary Research

To understand the challenges and needs of patients with dental anxiety and explore how technology could help, we conducted user interviews focused on their past dental experiences. At this stage, we hadn’t yet identified our target group. Instead, we aimed to learn more about all ages people experiences and underlying reasons for dental anxiety among various people.

Key questions we want to answer

Research Findings

1. People prefer to focus on the entire process and the doctor's actions rather than being distracted during the dental treatment.

2. People can feel anxious and nervous about the unknown dental treatment process.

3. Providing entertainment amenities in preoperative waiting areas can help alleviate anxiety for apprehensive patients.

85%

of participants
no longer expressed fear of dental treatment as when they were kids

100%

of participants's
past dental anxiety stemmed from negative childhood experiences

Interview Insights

Key Insight 1

Distract patients before dental treatment

“There was a TV in the waiting room and watching it made me feel less nervous”

Key Insight 2

Addressing Past Trauma is the Key

“My fear and anxiety comes from my horrible childhood treatment experiences”

Key Insight 3

Know the treatment process in advance

“Dental anxiety makes me hesitate to see dentist even I was in serious pain”

Pivot & Revision

As we delved deeper into the interviews, we found that dental anxiety tends to diminish as people grow older. This insight led us to shift our focus from adults to pre-teens, aiming to address the emotional needs of younger patients and minimize the chance of having traumatic dental experience.
‍
Dental anxiety can affect children of all ages, but it is most commonly observed in children between the ages of 8 and 14. Therefore, we chose this age group as our target audience.

Thus, we asked..

How might we empower pre-teens (ages 8-14) with dental fear to approach upcoming treatment with a positive, optimistic attitude?

Design

Design Principles

Ideation

Based on our research insights, we decided to focus on distracting patients' attention, helping them avoid constantly thinking about the upcoming treatment and thereby reducing their anxiety. Here’s how our product works.

Storyboard

We sketched out an idea for a smart robot placed in the dental waiting room. This device would engage patients in friendly conversations and offer dental-related games to keep them distracted.

Additionally, we included a stress ball to provide encouragement and support during their dental visits, helping them feel more at ease throughout the experience.

Testing & Iteration

Evaluative Research

We conducted evaluative research during the high-fidelity stage to assess the usability and effectiveness of the interactive companion robot in reducing dental anxiety and enhancing the overall dental care experience. This research allowed us to validate user flows and functionality within our app while refining wireframes and visual hierarchy based on invaluable user feedback.

Usability Test: Get real-time insights into user behaviors, preferences, and pain points, helping us identify usability issues and gather feedback.
Single Ease Question (SEQ): Effectively measures the perceived difficulty of each task.

Key Improvements

Users found that the red background color seemed suggestive, leading them to assume that option A was incorrect. So we decided to keep the background colors of both choices consistent.

We changed the scrolling direction of the previous appointment cards from horizontal to vertical, making it easier for users to view and access information. This adjustment aligns with the natural scrolling habits of most users.