Project spotlight series: Caregiver Stress Meter gives resources and support

July 27, 2021

Providence Digital Innovation Group

The Digital Innovation Group at Providence develops and adapts technology to improve access to healthcare.
Project spotlights highlight innovative solutions to healthcare challenges.
Caring for our caregivers is a top priority at Providence. The Caregiver Stress Meter is one way we help them get the mental health support they need.

[2 MIN READ]

When the Providence Digital Innovation Group set a goal to increase access to healthcare, they didn’t restrict their efforts to meeting patients’ needs. Care for caregivers was also prioritized.

Since it began seven years ago, the Digital Innovation Group has implemented dozens of programs designed to improve healthcare delivery and access. Many of them are featured in Project Spotlights available in our Resource Center. We’ve put together a series that highlights recent spotlights and gives you a glance at the innovative solutions we’re proud to be a part of. Part one focused on some of the ways we’re transforming the patient care journey. This month we’re sharing a look at how we care for caregivers with the Caregiver Stress Meter.

Caregiver Stress Meter

In the early stages of the pandemic, it became apparent that healthcare workers treating patients with COVID-19 were experiencing increased depression, anxiety and insomnia. Providence rallied to find ways to care for our caregivers and we continue to offer a wide range of mental health services so that our providers can be their best selves while caring for you. The Caregiver Stress Meter was designed to alleviate the stress of finding resources with an easy-to-use online tool that guides the user to services based on their anonymous self-assessed stress level.

Providence rallied to find ways to care for our caregivers and we continue to offer a wide range of mental health services so that our providers can be their best selves while caring for you.

The Stress Meter is a group effort between Dr. Arpan Waghray, CMO for Providence Behavioral Medicine, his team, the Digital Innovation Group’s Digital Experience (DeX) team, and the Providence Human Resources team. It features a simple line of emojis with facial expressions that reflect the emotion they represent. Users choose the emoji that best represents their emotional and mental state on any given day. Choices range from a blue smiley face representing “no stress” to a bright red face with crazy eyes that denotes a “severe” stress level. Each emoji leads to resources geared specifically to the level of distress they represent. See the Stress Meter in action.

“When we designed the Stress Meter, the goal was to give our caregivers a wide range of digital solutions in an easily accessible format, based on their needs and preference. Caring for the mental health and well-being of our caregivers is a precondition for delivering excellent care with compassion,” says Dr. Waghray.

We wanted to create an easy-to-understand, no-stress way to connect our caregivers to the solutions that could most help them, with a single click.

“During this extremely tough time, supporting our caregivers was a top priority. The DeX team was honored to partner with both the clinical and human resources teams to offer real, actionable solutions. When you’re under mental strain, it’s hard enough to search for resources that may help and then have to make decisions on what to use. We wanted to create an easy-to-understand, no-stress way to connect our caregivers to the solutions that could most help them, with a single click,” says Shweta Ponnappa, Group Vice President, Digital Experience.

Since it began, the Stress Meter has been accessed more than 30,000 times. For the caregivers needing help, the simple online tool has been an effective way to access the resources they need.

We’re excited to be able to support our caregivers, and hopefully in doing that, we allow them to care for our patients better.

“The Caregiver Stress Meter reinforces an overall system-wide priority on improving mental health for our caregivers and making sure everyone has access to high-quality care. It's a really critical thing, and it’s core to our mission,” says Dr. Waghray. “We’re excited to be able to support our caregivers, and hopefully in doing that, we allow them to care for our patients better.”

Find a doctor

The Providence Innovation Group offers a Digital Perspective on behavioral health in its Resource Center. See how we’re transforming healthcare. Through Providence Express Care Virtual, you can access a full range of healthcare services. If you need to find a doctor, you can use our provider directory.