Browsing by Subject "Participatory design"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Change Step: Improving Social Support for Women Veterans Through Participatory Design
    (2016) Wessel, Robert; Napier, Pamela; Eby, Chad; Wada, Terri
    This thesis discusses a participatory design project that focused on improving social support for women veterans in Indianapolis, Indiana. Using a series of design research methods to capture the voice of local women veterans, and by visually representing the outcomes of each phase of the project, the participant group and design researcher identified the needs of women veterans, considered existing social supports, and co-created a conceptual model for a social support network. This prototype network aims to make finding support easier, reduce overlap in existing social supports, and foster communication between partner support organizations. It is the first step in integrating social support for Indiana women veterans.
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    Designing for Health Literacy
    (2018) Gottschild, Kimberly; Wada, Terri; Richards, Bryan; Stump, Emily
    Health literacy is recognized worldwide as a key to obtaining and maintaining personal health. A health literate individual who has the access to resources that they can both understand and navigate can make empowered, personal health decisions both on their own and with their health care provider, and the benefits thereof are many. For example, health literacy has been shown to prevent disease, lead to early detection of disease, and lead to improved adherence to chronic disease treatment. Yet, only a fraction of the population is considered health literate. Women and immigrants in particular need health provider supported health literacy development strategies that focus on empathy and emotional support to help motivate them to make health decisions for a preferred health outcome. Health literacy is dependent upon the communication of health information. Various communication strategies exist to support the delivery of health information and ecological models have also been developed to support heath information delivery more effectively through multiple sources. Regarding the type of health information communicated, research has suggested that patients prefer information on actionable solutions rather than facts about the condition itself. Solution-focused, strengths-based, and participatory design strategies have also been shown to be effective in increasing health literacy skills. Participatory, generative design research tools engage participants to elicit deeper emotions regarding their current state and preferred future state and could be useful in supporting health literacy development. How might generative tools support women's and immigrants' health literacy development within an ecological health literacy model? Research was conducted to explore how participatory, generative design research tools could be an effective approach to help female and immigrant patients realize their health potential by empowering them with health literacy skills through accessible and engaging health information aligned with their personal strengths and identified solutions. Generative tools, such as interviews, worksheets, and journey mapping, that could potentially help women and immigrants express both their current and ideal future state, were explored. Generative tools were iterated to allow patients to align their personal strengths, solutions, and health information with their ideal future state in order to create a roadmap tool that could support health literacy development and assist them in realizing their potential in health situations. The resulting literature review-based generative health literacy toolkit was tested at the Indiana University School of Medicine Student Outreach Clinic. Nursing students, who serve the role of patient navigators, engaged their patients with the toolkit activities. Surveys to measure patient confidence in realizing their health potential were also conducted before and after intervention. Findings included a health literacy ecosystem that comprises at least two levels for health information communication, actionable health information patients can utilize to improve their health condition, and patient generated strategies for treatment plan and lifestyle change adherence in everyday life outlined in a journey map form that can be taken home for reference and motivation. Outcomes of toolkit use in the clinic included improved communication between providers and patients, as well as patient empowerment to move forward with improved health behaviors.
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    Designing with Communities: A Framework for a Collaborative Public Engagement Process
    (2018) Stamatis, Stephany; Wada, Terri; Hong, Youngbok; Eby, Chad
    This research explores approaches to public engagement processes in the field of Urban Planning, as well as the relationship between Urban Planners and Community Members through that process. A series of interviews was conducted with practicing Urban Planners to determine their current approaches to public engagement, as well as their rationale for using those approaches. Data from the interviews was used to design the objectives and methods for a participatory design session. The participatory design session was held with a group of Urban Planners, Community Advocates, and Community Members as participants. Participants were facilitated through activities to elicit the values each of these groups can offer to the public engagement process, as well as generating ideas for how they might collaborate more effectively. The session was informed by the Asset-based Community Development methodology. Data from literature review, interviews, and the participatory design session were then analyzed and synthesized to generate further insights for development of prototypes for possible solutions. Several iterations of prototypes were created and tested, in order to arrive at a conceptual framework to proceed with designing.A conceptual framework was created as the solution for this thesis, in order to facilitate Urban Planners in gaining a deeper level of understanding of the opportunities and challenges of involving Community Members through a public engagement process. By more effectively understanding these factors and variables included in the framework, a stronger collaborative relationship might be developed, to achieve a higher quality of engagement. Doing so would result in a mutually beneficial project for both groups. might be attained for both groups. The intended audience for the framework is Urban Planners who are interested in shifting from a prescriptive approach to a collaborative approach, yet might not know what underlies and contributes to a collaborative approach well enough to make the shift. Going forward, Urban Planners who are interested in making a shift might use the understanding gained from the framework, to develop specific methods and a plan of action for implementing a collaborative approach to public engagement.
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    Exploring Older Adults’ Beliefs About the Use of Intelligent Assistants for Consumer Health Information Management: A Participatory Design Study
    (JMIR Publications, 2019-12-11) Martin-Hammond, Aqueasha; Vemireddy, Sravani; Rao, Kartik; Human-Centered Computing, School of Informatics and Computing
    Background: Intelligent assistants (IAs), also known as intelligent agents, use artificial intelligence to help users achieve a goal or complete a task. IAs represent a potential solution for providing older adults with individualized assistance at home, for example, to reduce social isolation, serve as memory aids, or help with disease management. However, to design IAs for health that are beneficial and accepted by older adults, it is important to understand their beliefs about IAs, how they would like to interact with IAs for consumer health, and how they desire to integrate IAs into their homes. Objective: We explore older adults’ mental models and beliefs about IAs, the tasks they want IAs to support, and how they would like to interact with IAs for consumer health. For the purpose of this study, we focus on IAs in the context of consumer health information management and search. Methods: We present findings from an exploratory, qualitative study that investigated older adults’ perspectives of IAs that aid with consumer health information search and management tasks. Eighteen older adults participated in a multiphase, participatory design workshop in which we engaged them in discussion, brainstorming, and design activities that helped us identify their current challenges managing and finding health information at home. We also explored their beliefs and ideas for an IA to assist them with consumer health tasks. We used participatory design activities to identify areas in which they felt IAs might be useful, but also to uncover the reasoning behind the ideas they presented. Discussions were audio-recorded and later transcribed. We compiled design artifacts collected during the study to supplement researcher transcripts and notes. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data. Results: We found that participants saw IAs as potentially useful for providing recommendations, facilitating collaboration between themselves and other caregivers, and for alerts of serious illness. However, they also desired familiar and natural interactions with IAs (eg, using voice) that could, if need be, provide fluid and unconstrained interactions, reason about their symptoms, and provide information or advice. Other participants discussed the need for flexible IAs that could be used by those with low technical resources or skills. Conclusions: From our findings, we present a discussion of three key components of participants’ mental models, including the people, behaviors, and interactions they described that were important for IAs for consumer health information management and seeking. We then discuss the role of access, transparency, caregivers, and autonomy in design for addressing participants’ concerns about privacy and trust as well as its role in assisting others that may interact with an IA on the older adults’ behalf.
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    Mitigate Patient Falls within the Acuity Adaptable Units
    (2018) Pirzadeh, Iman; Eby, Chad
    This study uses the power of Participatory Design (PD) process to involve stakeholders within the hospital through the design process. Participatory design uses qualitative research methods, such as surveys, interviews with stakeholders, prompt cards, and observations, to gain a better understanding of patients’ experiences. It also uncovers new ways of helping patients feel safe and comfortable during their stay in a hospital. The goal of this research is to identify the antecedents, consequences, and determine interventions that can mitigate patient falls in Eskenazi Hospital’s acuity adaptable units.
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    Technology in Retail: Using Participatory Design to Enhance Shopping Experiences for Female Consumers
    (2013-06-03) Davis, Ashley; Napier, Pamela; Ganci, Aaron; Ristau, Jacob
    Today’s consumers currently face an unprecedented number of seemingly homogeneous product alternatives. Because of the overwhelming number of product options, consumers are experiencing increased negative psychological consequences such as increased regret, decreased product and life satisfaction, lower self-esteem, and less self-control (e.g., Baumeister and Vohs 2003; Carmon et al. 2003; Schwartz et al. 2002). To address these concerns, this paper will explore how a participatory design approach can be applied to understand and remedy issues within the landscape of brick-and-mortar retail. Rather than taking a traditional marketing approach to address concerns around retail experiences, this paper will investigate how design thinking can more appropriately uncover latent consumer needs and thus design a more applicable solution. This change in approach and process is due to the expectations that design thinking and participatory design is more suitably tailored to defining expectations, uncovering insights, and designing solutions that meet latent user needs. Additionally, a revolution is occurring where consumers no longer want to be passive recipients of consumer goods; they want to be directly involved in the creation of goods and services (Sanders 2006). In order to satisfy the changing needs of individuals, both in their roles as consumers and as everyday people, this paper will explore the consequences of design research on traditional retail experiences. By including everyday people throughout the design process, this project will aim to enhance shopping experiences by making it easier to reach satisfactory decisions. Because of gender specific variables such as time and energy spent shopping, level of involvement, and enjoyment felt from shopping, this project will comprise an all-female group of participants, including both female shoppers and retailers/staff. To answer the proposed research question, this Master’s Thesis paper will begin by presenting a deep understanding of current research on consumer behavior. This knowledge will be applied throughout the design process both as a limitation when selecting design research methods and as a lens for interpreting collected data. Through both primary and secondary research, the paper will present insights into consumer behavior and retail experiences. These insights will then be used to craft ideas for an interactive consumer decision aid that will enhance retail experiences. Through iteration, this paper will then present a conceptual solution that will aid shoppers in making it easier to reach decisions and make rational product choices. By supporting consumer’s ability to make rational decisions, this paper will highlight how increased consumer satisfaction can improve both the relationship quality and the product/product choice quality, determinants of consumer satisfaction. By improving consumer satisfaction, this paper asserts that the final outcome will be able to increase a consumer’s level of trust and commitment in a retailer. This will allow the solution to serve as an aid to retailers in building loyalty, boosting retention rates, differentiating services, and staying competitive, thereby driving sales and improving revenue. By increasing revenue for retailers and improving satisfaction for consumers, the outcome of this project can be a beneficial artifact for both parties of the retail experience.
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    Uncovering Talents and Interests in At-risk Urban Youth: Co-designing a path to self-fulfillment
    (2015) Smerdel, Jennifer; Napier, Pamela
    The designer’s role has evolved greatly over the past few decades. We are no longer asked to simply create a poster or a web page, but to solve complex problems towards socially relevant topics. Through utilizing a people-centered approach to better understand complex socio-material interactions, designers are able to create meaningful change in organizations, communities, and individuals lives. This new role has opened up the door to the possibilities of how designer’s can create a significant impact on a large scale as well as on an individual level. By seeking to create a change, design researchers identify groups who can be best served with a people-centered approach. This includes those who do not have an active voice in our society and therefore are potentially forgotten. One such group is that of at-risk urban youth. At-risk urban youth are defined as "adolescents who face disadvantage determined by a level of poverty, social, and family conditions whilst living in an urban community, which hinders their personal development and success (UN-HABITAT, 2003). This can lead to a decreased sense of self-fulfillment, which is exacerbated by a lack of opportunities. The path to self-fulfillment can be reached by bringing to fruition one’s deepest interests and capacities or talents, and by giving at-risk urban youth the opportunity to uncover these, an actionable plan for their future can be developed. By employing a co-design approach, youth collaborated with one another while working with creative tools and methods. Co-design is a process in which designers and non-designers work collaboratively in the design development process to create holistic solutions to problems (Sanders & Stappers, 2008). This research explored how a participatory design approach, such as co-design, can be applied in the development of a process for at-risk urban youth to uncover their latent talents and interests and develop an actionable plan for them to fulfill their future goals. Engaging youth in the process helped to identify, select, and iterate on appropriate co-design tools and methods in order to enhance the inherent creativity in youth and guide them toward the path to self-fulfillment. With the help of at-risk urban youth, this thesis produced a new process, along with facilitation guidance tools, to help solve this social issue. In a rapidly transforming world, at-risk urban youth can be considered as the forgotten generation of our time. By challenging ourselves to rethink and redesign the process in which youth are accessing their future goals and bringing them to fruition, we are able to pave the way for future social innovation.