Developing a Mobile Application for SickKids.

Intelliware partners with SickKids to develop a mobile application for Spit for Science 2.

The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is recognized as one of the world’s foremost paediatric health-care institutions and is Canada’s leading centre dedicated to advancing children’s health through the integration of patient care, research and
education.

Spit for Science 1 collected mental health and genetic data from 17,000 children and adolescents at the Ontario Science Centre from 2008-2009. Families and children were recruited when they approached the Spit for Science exhibit. They were asked to complete questionnaires and a cognitive task on computers, as well as provide a DNA sample. The team had a maximum of 20 minutes with each participant and there was no opportunity to collect additional data after they left the exhibit.

Challenge

SickKids required a mobile application to support Spit for Science 2, a large, population-based study that is looking into the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to mental illness in youth. Intelliware was selected by the SickKids Spit for Science research team as a technology provider to deliver a mobile app for Android and iOS. The app allows respondents to answer and submit responses to questionnaires while ensuring that no personal or identifying information is collected.

Solution

Intelliware worked with SickKids to understand their requirements and developed the technical strategy and a UX/UI design for bringing the app to market quickly and effectively using a collaborative approach to delivery based on Agile practices. The app was built iteratively and incrementally for both platforms in two-week iterations.

The application displays a tile for each of the study participants, adding a nickname, age range, and barcode ID that can be scanned in with the phone’s camera. The app then prompts study respondents to complete questionnaires on their phone to win prizes. The more questionnaires they complete, the more chances they get to win.

“Bi-weekly demos demonstrated steady progress and gave us the opportunity to provide feedback and guidance and to make adjustments as the solution emerged. The App was delievered on time and the finished product met all our needs. Intelliware were able to use SickKids REDCap to seamlessly integrate with our existing database.” – Avalon Henry, Project Manager, Spit for Science 2

Results

The Spit for Science app was successfully delivered on iOS and Android and integrated into SickKids’ existing data collection tool, REDCap. The additional data collected and submitted by the app will be used to support research into child and adolescent mental health. Intelliware entered into this engagement to give back to our community. In that spirit, Intelliware took the opportunity to contribute generic components of the application with the Open Source community.