Understanding the people behind a pain management app

CHALLENGE

When I joined Kaia Health as the company’s first dedicated UX researcher, the product team had limited research-backed knowledge about the people using its digital pain management app.

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The team wanted to better understand users’ daily lives, pain management routines, motivations, and reasons for using or not using the app. This foundational knowledge could help replace assumptions with evidence and guide future product and communication decisions.

 

PROJECT TIMELINE

June to August 2020

 

MY ROLE

I defined the study goals and led the research from planning through synthesis. I conducted stakeholder and user interviews, recruited participants, analyzed the findings, and shared recommendations with product, design, and engineering partners.

 

RESEARCH METHODS

Stakeholder interviews, semi-structured user interviews, and affinity mapping

 

 

BACKGROUND

Before this study, the team had not conducted direct research with people actively using the product. Existing knowledge came largely from internal assumptions and third-party testing rather than conversations with users managing chronic pain in their everyday lives.

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The study was designed to build a shared understanding of who users were, what they were trying to accomplish, and how Kaia fit into their broader pain management routines.

 

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• How did users manage pain throughout their day?

• Where did Kaia fit, or fail to fit, within their routines?

• What value did users gain from the app?

• What barriers or frustrations affected continued use?

 

 

APPROACH

Aligning with stakeholders

I first interviewed partners across product, design, and engineering to understand what they believed about users and where those beliefs were based more on assumption than evidence.

I gathered their questions, prioritized those most likely to influence product decisions, and used them to define the scope of the study. Questions outside that scope were documented for future research.

 

Speaking with users

I recruited both active and less-active users so the study would reflect a range of experiences. Working with the CRM manager, I sent recruitment invitations through Braze.

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During the interviews, I used a flexible discussion guide that left room for follow-up questions and unexpected topics. We discussed participants’ pain histories, daily routines, current management strategies, reasons for trying Kaia, and what encouraged or prevented continued use.

 

Synthesizing the research

I transcribed and reviewed each interview, created participant summaries, and used affinity mapping to identify themes and connections across the data.

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The findings were organized around several parts of the experience, including:

• How people discovered and decided to try Kaia

• How the app fit into their daily routines

• What supported continued use

• What made engagement difficult

• What users valued beyond individual app features

 

 

OUTCOME

The study gave the product team its first direct, research-based view of people using Kaia in their everyday lives.

The findings helped bring user evidence into product planning and gave the team a stronger basis for discussing future improvements. They also contributed to research-backed personas, empathy maps, and journey maps.

 

Insights from the study informed marketing and in-app messaging by clarifying how users described their pain, what motivated them to seek support, and what they valued about the program.