4a. What was the participants’ experience of using the app?
Participants were asked specific questions relating to functionality, visual appeal, overall use of the mobile phone app and use of the app outside of the study. From these questions the following themes emerged of functionality, frustration and opportunities for future design.
Functionality
The majority of participants felt the app was functional as a research tool and to a certain extent enjoyable to use. There were some frustrations with the app design as discussed further below. Participants found the visual appearance of the app appropriate and appealing. Participants generally reported noticing more of their surroundings due to the app daily notifications.
“I think like when, because you got a notification when it sensed you were in somewhere in nature. So like walking through Weston park you would get a notification and it just made me more aware of my
surrounds to try and like pick up on things instead of just having like head down going.” -
“I wouldn’t say it like drastically but I would say I sort of pay attention more to sort of what‘s around you as I live in an area with very little nature at the bottom of west street. So it teaches you to notice the
small things.”
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“I don't know if it was interesting, but it wasn't like not interesting.”
Participants describing their interactions with the app different features and its usability defined this code.
Frustrations
Due to a complication with the GPS and app sleep mode on Android operating systems there was one frustration that would prevent participants from wanting to continue with the study. During the phones sleep mode the GPS would be turned off, this meant when a geofenced space was entered, the app would wake the phone up simultaneously opening the app. This caused the app to take over the phone’s display and at times crash the phone. This could occur when using navigation tools (for example, google maps) whilst driving past a green space. There was unfortunately not an alternative way to fix this.
“Oohh so I actually downloaded in the past but I never did the survey because I just deleted it because it popped up so many times I couldn’t' do anything with my phone.”
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Additional frustration developed from feeling unable to answer the apps questions as the participant’s attention turned to unpleasant elements within green spaces or being unable to accurately answer using the five-point scale. For example, one participant did not feel they could identify the level of ‘nature’ in a space as asked by the app:
“How do I say how much nature there is, I don't know.”
Some participants felt that noticing their surroundings more lead to them noticing more unpleasant elements of the natural environment, such as litter or their perceived idea of Sheffield being nature rich being challenged:
“I don’t know, I sort of realised that there wasn’t as much green space as I initially thought, I was ah it’s going to be quite easy”
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“My usual thing is like down west street and into the city centre and I was like this whole route is literally just trashy and I was like there's literally nothing, the dual carriageway, even around uni I don't
think it's that great”
This code related to participants commenting negatively on aspects of the app functionality. These aspects limit the app’s appeal and adherence.
Missed features
Participants repeatedly reported thinking that they were using all the available features only to discover later several features they had not used or realised existed. The most commonly missed features were the map to show the participants’ data input location and the progress trees showing how much of the study the participants had completed. Some participants were also not aware of the ability to add photos, although this is included in the app introduction sequence.
Input at home
Participants regularly reported inputting their data once at home. This practice occurred across six groups of participants, with half of the participants reporting inputting their data whilst no longer in the space they were reporting about or once at home at the end of the day.
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Distraction from Nature
One focus group felt that the app was fundamentally flawed in that it distracted the user from engaging with the natural environment by setting off the notification alert on their mobile phone.
S: but I also found that it kinda ruined the effect of being in a green space like cos I went on my phone to check it out.
T: yeah I agree with that.
S: so I saw a notification so I went on it and then I am on my phone rather than enjoying the green space, yeah it kinda detracted from it, I dunno how else you could do it.
T: I did this like mindfulness thing and I think it contradicts you, by go on our phones to look forward.
This is discussed further in chapter 7, as whilst this theme was only discussed in one focus group, it is an important factor to the likely popularity of the app and its opportunity to influence daily routine.
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Opportunities for development of the app
Only two participants said they would have recommended the app to a friend. Whilst participants appreciated being part of the study, they were sceptical about the app’s potential popularity with their age group outside of a research context. Some participants went further with this to say they would not have used the app if it had not been for the monetary incentive (£20 voucher). Participants provided several key concepts to improve the app. These fell broadly into the following categories as shown in table 6.3:
Table 6.3 App development ideas
Concept Description Benefits
Photo sharing The ability to share locations and elements of nature seen within Sheffield.
This would provide opportunity and inspiration to explore new and seasonal areas for people who are new to the area or want to expand the places they visit. Metric of Wellbeing Benefit Similar in design to step
counting or drink water reminder app.
This would allow the user to track their mood alongside the amount of time they had spent in green space. The app would provide a target of time in the natural environment for mental health benefit. Nature Journal A place to record your
encounters with the natural environment which
provides recommendation based on your previous visit and seasonal reminders.
This would act as a prompt to remind the user to revisit places they have previously enjoyed and allow them to record the locations they have enjoyed on a map with photos. This could also allow the user to share with a friend network.
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