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Wanning Ho, Aashika Jain, Min Lee, Priyanka Marawar IIT Institute of Design II Communication workshop II Fall2012

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Post treatment care for Breast cancer affected women

IIT Institute of Design II Communication workshop II Fall2012

Wanning Ho, Aashika Jain, Min Lee, Priyanka Marawar


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What is an API?An API is an application programming interface. It is a function which when layered with technology/information can augment or change that function. Eg Google maps are being used widely by a variety of applications like YELP to layer their own information on them to find new meaning and functionality.

What is a Human API?With the advent of ubiquitous computing, technology is being seamlessly integrated into the lives of the humans to augment their functions. Humans as an API is a condition when technology works as an enabler on the human function to either augment or modify an existing ability or inability.

Our approach...Our objective is to apply the concept of the Human API to help breast cancer patients cope with their disease post treatment.


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Why Breast Cancer?Its is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. One in eight women suffers from breast cancer.

Her challengeThe patient goes through three parallel journeys.

1. Medical journey- The medical treatment that involves diagnosis,chemotherapy, intensive care and reconstruction surgery2. Physical journey- The physical body changes the patient goes through. This involves loss of hair, loss of breasts, breast reconstruction 3. Emotional Journey- The emotional trauma which involves fear and anxiety of death, sensitivity of appearance, living with cancer, accepting the new self.

Our focus is the patients Emotional journey.

Realms affecting the emotional selfThere are three realms which affect a cancer affected womans emotional self. The core of which is her perception of self and her relationship with her partner. Hence we decided to focus on these two realms.

The Inside and the Intimate


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Initial findingsBody’s role as a source of sexual pleasure has been undermined by disease and intimacy is being explored through other aspects

Body image issue is closely related to a women’s biological life cycle

People we metPatricia, Second ActJanine, Psychiatrist at Rush UniversityBeth, Author and BloggerTami and Mike, Patient CoupleJanine and Mark, User Interview

Methods adoptedSemi structured interviews, Skype interviews and Provotypes

This provotype was used to test how people perceive themselves if they had no hair. this is a mirror that blocks out the part of the mirror that shows your hair. Giving the illusion that you have no hair

This provotype was used to understand how a woman perceives her sexuality and how her partners perceives her sexuality

Hypothesis- Research questionWhat is the relationship between physical beauty & sexual pleasure for the breast cancer affected?

Research goalTo understand the relationship between her and her partner (Breast Cancer Affected couple) and the role her body plays in personal happiness and life


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Emotional impact of breast cancer depends upon the womans sexual life stage

Couples need to talk

Doctors need to be involved in the patients emotional journey

Partners engagement fosters healing

Cancer is a catalyst in a relationship

Cancer pauses life, causes introspection

Self expression gives a sense of purpose and validation

Patients want to gain control over their life

Key findings


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Design principlesEnable patients to find a sense of purpose and to gain control over their lives using introspection

Make cancer affected couples empathetic towards each other by engaging them in effective communication

Initiate communication between couples using introspection as an input for self-expression

Cater to subjective needs* of women by encouraging self-expression

Design directionsIntrospection and self expression as tools to achieve emotional wellbeing

Facilitating effective communication towards a healthy relationship dynamic

Expression + +Communication Introspection


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Idea generationWe did structured brainstorming and clustered the ideas based on solution categories. Each of us voted for 3 solution categories to arrive at 4 idea clusters. We then detailed each of the idea clusters to pick one concept which was around Ambient objects urging action.

System of Ambient objects We studied the lifestyle of the cancer affected. These women spend most of their time in their homes where they recuperate. They interact with various objects in their home environment which already have some meaning in their lives. This environment seemed ideal for our design intervention. Our concept uses a system of ambient objects which interact with the cancer affected couple to urge action by encouraging introspection, expression and better communication between them. These objects are the refrigerator magnets for expression of emotions, a table artifact to spark conversation between couples, a weighing scale that shows her emotional weight and an alarm clock that disciplines the cancer affected woman. All the data about her emotional wellbeing would be sent would be sent to MSKCC through an online dashboard.

Structured brainstorming

Clustering

Idea development Mapping key functions and the day journey System map


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PrototypingWe prototyped 3 basic aspects of the idea- The 4 ambient objects- The story or the context- The emotions that matter to cancer affected.

LearningsThe refrigerator magnets, the table artifact and the weighing scale were enough to achieve the aimed function. The utility of an alarm clock could be embedded into a phone application

Table artifact needs to show just enough information to have specific conversations

The weighing scale needs to show more than just emotional weight. It needs to show the journey of emotions.

There are 12 basic emotions that a person might experience. Some emotions are more intense and long lasting than the others.

Weighing scale

Refrigerator interface

12 emotions

Card sorting of emotions and their imagery

Alarm clock

Table artifact

Dashboard for MSKCC


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What is Emocare?A system of ambient objects at home that helps a woman understand and visualize emotions and have better communication with her partner. 1. Emospect helps her introspect and

express her emotions.

2.Emolight which is a chandelier that hangs over a table facilitates communication between couples by reflecting the emotions that she expressed through Emospect during the day. 4. Her emotional journey is reflected

through the Dashboard for MSKCC to view.

5. Her emotional state can also be shared with her close friends through the phone application.

6.The Cancer community can also share their experiences through the phone application.

3.Emoweigh visualizes her emotional weight over a period of time.


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How Emocare reaches her?

MSKCC introduces the benefits of using Emocare at home

The cancer affected woman goes to the MSKCC store to buy the Emocare kit. She finds a wide array of ambient objects.

She chooses her ambient objects for her home.She chooses the emospect refrigerator magnets, the Emolight chandelier to hang over her table and the Emoweigh weighing scale

She installs the Emocare kit at home

The Emospect magnets are placed on the refrigerator along with an OLED screen.

Each of the magnets mean a certain emotion.

The Emolight is a chandelier that she hangs over her dining table

The Emoweigh is a weighing scale that has two components. One is the weighing scale which measures her weight and the other is screen based device which visualizes the weight of her emotions.


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1. EmospectEmospect is a Refrigerator interaction meant to urge the cancer affected woman to introspect and express her emotions. It comprises of the magnets and an OLED screen. Each magnet depicts an emotion. There are 12 emotions. Whenever she is by the refrigerator, the OLED screen prompts her by asking her “How are you feeling today?”. She picks the magnet that depicts her emotion and moves it onto the screen. She can express her emotions multiple times in a day. As she moves a magnet, the screen registers that emotion and sends that information to the Emolight and Emoweigh. The OLED screen also depicts how long an emotion has been there on the screen. Hence shows the length or the extent of her emotions.


Sluggish

OLED screen

Magnets

Loving

History of emotions shown on the screen through opacity

AngryPeaceful Excited


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2. EmolightEmolight is a dynamic chandelier that comprises of 12 suspended globes each depicting an emotion. Five are positive while five are negative and two are neutral. Each of these emotions are depicted in color as well as in size of the globe. The globes which are larger are the intense emotions which require attention. The Emolight reflects daily information from the Emospect in a dynamic manner. For Example. If she puts an angry magnet on the screen, the globe on the Emolight that depicts anger will come down to its most extreme position. In this position it will be at eye level when the couple is seated at the dining table. Hence bring attention to her emotional state and spark conversation. Over a period of time the couple will find meaning in the color, size, spatial positioning of the globe to instantly know how she was feeling during the day.


Intensity of emotion that decides the height the globe drops

-ve+ve

The color of each emotion and its spatial positioning on the chandelier.


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3. EmoweighEmoweigh weighs her emotional weight along with her actual weight over a period of time. Its objective is to make her introspect over her emotional journey and understand her highs and lows. It receives information about her emotions from the Emospect.


Intensity of emotion that decides the heaviness or lightness of her emotions

-ve+ve

The various emotions that affect the emotional weightEmotionally light

Emotional journey over a period of time

Emotionally heavy


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4. MSKCC dashboardMSKCC will receive the patients emotional journey through the Online dashboard. They will be able to see the detailed information of the patients emotional wellbeing.


Intensity of emotion that decides the heaviness or lightness of her emotions

-ve+ve

The various emotions that affect the emotional weight

Emotional journey over a period of time

Emotional journey over a month


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Emocare at workWe attempted to prototype the actual experience of our product by setting up a home environment. We employed actors and narrated a story to demonstrate the experience of Emocare.

Emospect Emolight Emoweigh


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What Emocare means to MSKCC?Emocare Is an opportunity for MSKCC to show their patients they care about both their physical and emotional health even post treatment. It’s a chance for MSKCC to feel more connected to their patients and monitor their emotional health. Since these products will be available in MSKCC store, it will generate revenue for them.

Suggestions for improvementThere needs to be a service that helps with the installation of these objects since installation might be labor intensive.

The design needs to account for older people. They might have difficulty adopting this system.

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