Sprinkle of Self-Care

Sprinkle of Self-care

Michelle Rotbart

Alexis Madara

Nirav Tolani

let’s talk about sex.

Team NAM of Parsons’ Strategic Design and Management Program partnered with a nonprofit sexual reproductive healthcare organization specializing in innovative education and advocacy.

The objective presented to the team was how to better engage and serve the immigrant community of New York City. The team utilized a myriad of research methods and design strategies to create possible solutions for the partner that were human-centric,

about the client.

The Client is a leading sexual and reproductive health non-profit organizations (SRH non-profit) in New York City. The SRH non-profit provides clinical services and consultations, and education and training programs.

They have health centers in five locations throughout New York City and aim to provide care and education to individuals of any background.

the team.

NAM is a diverse team of creative thinkers with a specialized talent and an apt for design thinking in the economic-social circle. The team’s varied backgrounds provide a layer of perspectives that allow them to think outside of the box and challenge each other to implement systems thinking.

The team developed and honed tools and methodologies to uncover and apply insight learnings to the work that will be explored throughout the book and implemented design thinking.

what is design thinking?

Design Thinking aims to better understand those being designed for to truly meet their needs while maintaining sustainable and viable business models.

The designer uses a variety of research methods to complement quantitative analysis. These methods include analogous research, problem re-framing, ethnographic interviews, direct observation, journey maps, personas, value chain analysis, brainstorming, rapid prototyping, and assumption testing.

Workshops which bring together key stakeholders are also commonly organized to gain feedback and consider additional perspectives. These tools are typically used rapidly and iteratively to learn quickly and make the necessary adjustments. This is service design thinking.

Universal Method of Design 1 - “Design Thinking for a better you�, Tara Parker-Pope New York Times

Articulating discoveries in proactive and compelling ways, NAM inspires to design for the user in a way that makes sense, and best uses the organization’s existing resources to their full potential.

the design principles: The team worked together to create three design principles to keep in mind through the ideation process. These serve as guidelines and as a starting point for the creation of new designs to solve the problem at hand.

Trust and reminder

Establish trust and consistency with the user. We know that people sometimes don’t allocate enough time to take care of their sexual health or if they do need to be reminded by a trusted source like a health professional or someone they trust like a great friend.

Accessibility

Design for the user’s life. Design for routine that can be easily applied and incorporated into the everyday life of the user.

Design for both physical & digital worlds

Establish a relationship with the user both in the physical space as well as the digital world.

Sometimes due to unforeseen circumstances the lack of health resources and physical equipments to use and improve health may not be available to the general population. To come up with a service to help people find safe places & knowledge that provide physical exercises equipments and self care activities to help improve one’s health.

AEIOU chart.

To focus their thoughts, the team created an AEIOU research plan with the purpose of setting goals and expectations for research.

AEIOU Research Plan Answer the questions below to better understand what you need to accomplish in your research.

A E I O U

What activities do you need to understand or observe?

What does sex education outreach entail? What’s the current engagement with immigrant

What environments will be important to visit your participants in?

Visit potential clients in their homes or a space in which they fell comfortable. Visit New School

What interactions between people, or object and person, do you need to understand or observe?

communities? What activities does a doctor’s appointment entail? What services do immigrants want? What happens in a workshop? Where do people look to for sex education?

health center. Visit spaces that provide beauty, health, and “wellness” experiences. Visit SRH non-profit office. Visit potential clients in thei community space.

Interactions between educators and clients. interactions between SRH non-profit website and clients. Interactions within their communities. Interactions between immigrants and American pop-culture. Interactions between adocates and potential patients.

What objects need exploring?

SRH non-profit social media and marketing kit

What types of users willyou need to speak withand observe?

Potential patients

Social Workers

Health-providers

SRH Non-profit exployess

Sex Educators

Wellness professionals

Contraceptives SRH educational materials

research. research. research. research.

research. research. research. research.

desk research.

The team started their research process by sorting through articles to gain a basic understanding of the current state of sexual health, the client, and of New York City’s immigrant population.

what the team found international students: There is a large international student population in New York City. Between 2012 and 2013 in New York there were 46,870 international students. Recent studies have shown the number of international students in the United States is continuing to increase.

According to a report by the Institute of International Education, there are currently 40% more international students studying in the U.S. than there were 10 years ago.

This is important because many international students come from countries where sexual health is a taboo topic and have limited knowledge surrounding the subject. https://www.nycedc.com/blog-entry/international-students-nyc

how people learn.

We read a The New York Times article discussing where teenagers are learning about sex. The article higlighted a program in South End, Boston that had started to teach high school students about pornography. This program began because educators realized that high schoolers were using pornographic films in lieu of credible sex education curriculums. The issue is that pornography is often fantasy and not a realistic take on sex or healthy relationships. Furthermore, many of these scenes show violence and non-consensual relations.

So how can we relate this back to the international student population?

Research has proven that sexual education is an essential part of human development, that influences many decisions people face even later in life.

Because of culture, religious and geographic limitations, sexual education systems have not been able to develop and grow in the way should.

If viewers find that sexual health is something they aren’t comfortable discussing due to taboos, and they aren’t receiving sexual education, their information gap is only exacerbated by incorrect information. Thus, education and access to correct information surrounding sexual health are paramount.

the SRH non-profit connections.

To better understand the SRH non-profit’s connection to its clients and community, we created a stakeholder map to visualize these networks.

From the stakeholder map, we deepened our understanding of the groups influencing and interacting with the organization.

We realized we had to think about outside influencers on potential patients’ lives to understand how to engage patients and to figure out the best point for the SRH non-profit to intervene.

y t e i c

so

SRH non-profit: New York Patient Ecosystem Map

social workers

patient-exp er SPACES OF

INTERACTION

religious organizations

-social media

-sex ed workshops

-mobile medical unit

-pop-up events

volunteers

federal goverment

healthcare provider

interpreters SRH public educator

people for support

e nc ie

SR

profit n no

ity un m

H

co m

family

website public education campaigns

security

administrators reception

advocates

volunteers

insurance providers

media private donors

NY immigration coailtion

the big questions.

After completing our desk research, we discerned a few questions we needed to probe into via face-to-face interactions and surveys.

How do people access information around sex?

Where do they go to get this information?

Are there stigmas around sex?

What do people want to know about sex?

surveys.

We formatted some of these questions into surveys to gain data about how people view sexual health.

KNOW YOUR “SEX-HEALTH� h el p u s u n d er s t and ho w p eo p l e d ef i n e t h e p i ct ure o f s ex - h eal t h an d s el f - ed ucat i o n aro und yo u.

Ema il a d d re ss

1. Which of these contraceptives is known to protect against certrain types 1. What is your age group? of sexually transmitted infections?

Condoms 15-25

Birth 26-35Control Pills IUD 36-45 Spermicide 47-60 60+

2. What Do allcommunity STIs have symtoms? do you belong to? was born inof thethese United States 3.IYes Which is not an effective My parents were born in the United States form of birth control?

surveys.

Many subjects did not receive sexual education in school Most subjects’ families and communities did not discuss sex Majority of subjects found out about sex through friends Most subjects never received services regarding sexual & reproductive health

interviews.

WHO? 1. College students.

2. Health professionals.

3. Sex educators.

4. Wellness professionals

college students.

The team interviewed three different college students: two international graduate students and one firstgeneration graduate student. We wanted to find out how these students discussed and approached topics of sexual and reproductive health, whether they found sexual health to be a taboo topic, how they learned about sex and sexual health, and where they went in New York City to seek sexual health care.

jaini.

Jaini is an international graduate student at Parsons who moved from India. She did not receive sexual education from school, but a group of parents at her school conducted a course for their children and friends. A doctor who was a parent at the school held a talk for the students when they were ten years old. Jaini has never received any sexual health services.

“I talk to my best friends about sexual health.”

“As a community. I don’t think people really talk about [sex ed]” “I think health is one of the most important things to me.”

“Honestly, I don’t really consider sexual health to be part of my overall health.”

“I feel like there’s a taboo about [sex and sexual health] in my culture. But I think that’s changing just in terms of the generations. I think my generation is much more open to talking about it.”

karl.

Karl is an international graduate student at Parsons who moved from Lebanon. He received sexual education in school in Lebanon. He does not really remember much about what he learned in his sexual education course.

“I don’t think of sexual health as part of my general health” “I’m not open to talking to people about sex.

I’d only talk to someone I really trust.”

“It’s mostly the women’s role to go to a sexual health doctor.”

rohini.

Rohini is a graduate student at NYU and is firstgeneration American. She received multiple years of sexual education in middle school and high school in Chicago. Even though she’s received a good amount of sexual education, sexual health was not a subject she could discuss with her family until she needed to seek medical attention for issues with her menstrual cycles.

She’s had bad experiences with gynaecologists in the past, which have made her not want to visit an OBGYN.

“When I think of sexual health, I think it’s just what you go to the doctor for.”

“Sex is something that I mainly talk to my friends about. But, even then, I’m pretty open, but I have some friends that are more traditional, and they won’t talk about sex at all.”

“I think I originally found out about sex just through pop culture and watching TV. Then heard more through friends and school.”

“I find physical health and making sure you take care of yourself is really important. I try to work out and eat well and take care of my hygiene daily.”

“I wish that if I could go back in time, I would try to make myself go to the gynaecologist earlier on and be more open to talking about sex and my health with my doctor.”

activities.

At the end of interviews, the team gave interviewees blank sheets of paper and different colored markers in order to complete a word and color association activity.

The interviewees given colorful markers and were asked to list related worrd to the following six topics: 1. Safety 2. Health 3. Sexual Health 4. Sexual Education

The subjects were delivered one at a time and after the interviewee finished answering a topic our team probed why the interviewee chose specific words and colors.

The goal of this activity was to find more intuitive reactions to broad topics and dive into interviewees’ perspectives and experiences with these topics.

what we found.

There was a broad response to safety, some participants associating safety to police and seat-belts and other participants associating safety to home.

All participants disconnected sexual health, health, and sexual education.

Sexual health was often written in pink because the participants saw it as something female. The women wrote in pink because they associated sexual health with menstruation and the man wrote in pink because he saw sexual health as a strictly female experience that involved menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. He dissociated sexual health from himself.

Participants thought that starting sexual education at a younger age was important.

All participants found the doctor’s office as a cold, sterile environment that produced fear and anxiety. They associated the doctor’s office with negative experiences and hearing bad news.

This information was vital to us to find points in the system of sexual health and education that are opportunities for change.

key insights.

There’s a taboo/ lack of conversation around sex People don’t realize the breadth of sexual health topics There’s so much information online; it’s hard to know what’s true The U.S. health care system is difficult to navigate People want to feel normal/ fit in People don’t relate their sexual health to their overall health People care about their health and try to create healthy habits

DISCONNECT

Taboo/ lack of conversation around sex Breadth of sexual health topics Pardox of choice

TRUST

U.S. health care system difficult to navigate Lack of application to daily-life Continuous interaction

COOL FACTOR

Wellness is defining the modern zeitgeist People want to feel normal/ fit in

personas.

Based on this group of interviews the team decided to create a persona to parallel an ideal end-user.

They crafted an empathy map for the persona to better understand who would be their target audience and their motivations or fears.

NAM decided to focus on international students, not only because they had access to them, but also because the team found that many of these students received limited education on sexual health and had a desire to learn more.

my name is riya,

“I’D RATHER TALK TO MY FRIENDS ABOUT SEX THAN MY FAMILY”

and I’m from india. I’m 22 and recently came to New York to study at NYU. I’m excited, but sometimes I really miss my family back home.

NYC is big and I often feel overwhelmed by all these new experiences. I’m learning to balance my time between school and having fun.

My plans this Saturday are yoga and brunch with the girls and then meeting my first bumble date for drinks. I’m trying to be cool, but I’m a little nervous.

think /feel

- doctors offices are scary and overwhelming -she’s not interested in boyfriend -she wants to be in control of her body - her parent’s don’t understand her lifestyle - hasn’t had a doctor exam in a year - goes to the gym regularly

do

say

- takes care of her apperance

hear her parent’s encourage her to find a boyfriend

the me too movement

“I TALK TO MY FRIENDS ABOUT SEX.” “I LEARN ABOUT SEX THROUGH ONLINE PUBLICATIONS.” “I DON’T TALK TO MY FAMILY ABOUT SEXUAL HEALTH.” “I TAKE CARE OF MYSELF.”

stories about her friends wild dating lives

health professionals/sex educator.

The team interviewed two health professionals and one sex educator to gain insight into the current atmosphere in the medical field and see what advice professionals had to give.

nancy.

Nancy Brecher is a recently retired US Colonel (US Army) with over 20 years experience as a nurse practitioner in family medicine at West Point Military Academy and 30 years of experience as an emergency room nurse. She has a Bachelor’s degree in nursing and both a Master of Science in Nursing and Masters in Clinical Medicine.

“A common question is how did everything look? How do I take care of myself better? Am I normal?”

“I often remind patients that this is their body and they need to keep it healthy! I would say talking to friends/siblings isn’t always the best and they should do their homework on their bodies.”

“Compliments always help when talking to patients. I always try to give people the full explanation on why I’m giving them a particular exam and what the steps are.”

james.

James is the CEO and EVP of the American Medical Association and deals with health on a public policy level.

He delivered insights into the current state of the healthcare system in the U.S., and what aspects of the system need to change. He emphasised healthcare needed to be more preventative; people need to take an active role in their health instead of just reacting in moments of crisis.

“Our cost of healthcare in this country increases year to year at a rate greater than the GDP. So having a system that is attuned to wellness and prevention, which is not something it’s traditionally been focused on in medicine, is tremendously important.”

“I wish people would know that one has to pay attention to chronic disease and wellness and do that almost as a form of personal care rather than medical care.”

“We need to re-frame healthcare to be more like selfcare. Have a routine. Take it day by day.”

“In personal care products, there’s a message in that.

For example in hair care products, an underlying message is that anyone can have a bad hair day, but if you have one today it doesn’t mean you have to have one tomorrow. And, yet, when people think of their own health and wellness, they don’t make this kind of ongoing connection.”

francisco.

Francisco is a speaker, consultant and media host with a Master’s of Public Health focusing on health & sexuality. He gives advice and talks about sexual health worldwide. He believes in taking sexual health out of the clinic and meeting people where they are. The team met him while he was offering free sex advice in Union Square. We were able to both observe his interactions with the public and interview him. We were amazed to see how people walking through the square were so eager to speak with him. Within the first few minutes of setting up his space, he already had a line of visitors ready to work out their sex lives.

“The most common question is Am I normal?”

“I really wanted to meet people where they are as opposed to funneling them through somewhere else.”

key insights.

People want to feel normal.

Healthcare needs to be treated as a routine.

People need the right information to make the right decisions.

Healthcare/education needs to meet people where they are.

wellness professionals.

Lastly, after gathering insights from health professionals that pointed towards wellness and self-care as the needed future of healthcare, the team spoke with wellness professionals and participated in wellness experiences. The goal of these interviews to find out why people engage in wellness activities, what keeps clients coming back, and what parallels can be made to sexual and reproductive healthcare.

jillian.

Jillian is an esthetician at Savor Beauty + Spa, she stressed the importance of preventative skin care and creating a plan for each client that can fit into their existing morning and night routine. She reminded the team that their skin is the largest organ on the body and that skin care is more than just appearance but is also a component of overall health.

“Your skin is a display of your health, take little steps every day to maintain it. You’ll thank yourself later.”

“I always want to make sure I’m evaluating and addressing clients needs when they come in, but also creating a plan for when they leave. I want to see improvement between their visits, not just during the visit, that’s the overall goal. This is just the touch-up, not the whole process.”

“Just keep in mind: the more you take care of yourself now, the less time and money you end up spending later on in the game.”

key insights.

Follow-up is a great tool for keeping customers engaged.

Positive affirmations encourage clients.

Creating a plan makes it easy for clients to keep up regimens.

Plans are geared toward the clients’ lifestyles.

Personalized evaluations and starts let clients know where they are currently and how to improve.

analogous experiences.

The team participated in wellness experiences that could parallel the healthcare experience with the hopes to see how these professionals kept clients coming back. We looked into how the environment we visited was inviting and comforting and how that could be applied in the healthcare space.

facial.

Alexis went to see an esthetician at a spa to see what aspects of this wellness experience could be paralleled in healthcare. The esthetician introduced herself, went over Alexis’s skin concerns, then pointed out what she saw and developed a plan for the appointment. The esthetician made sure Alexis felt comfortable throughout the appointment. At the end of the appointment Alexis was given a list of products that would work for her skin, and an order in which to use them. She was also given information on what ingredients to avoid to keep skin healthy. At checkout, she was asked if she wanted to schedule another appointment. A couple of days later Alexis received e-mail from the spa asking how her appointment was; the message also included a recipe for a smoothie that contains ingredients that are good for the skin.

findings: The spa made sure that the experience was comfortable the whole time by creating a soothing ambience and checking-in throughout the service.

The esthetician created a plan to allow skin-care could continue daily at the client’s home. They provided the tools to enable the client to take control of his/her skin with a routine.

They followed-up to check in and send more helpful information after the time of service, which not only kept contact with the client but also reminded the client to take care of his/her skin.

gym.

Michelle went to a new fitness studio to experience a health-related activity.

She found a TRX class she was interested in online and signed up. She was excited but nervous to try out this TRX class. Upon arrival to the studio, Michelle was greeted by a receptionist and given a tour of the facility. During the class, she followed all the cues and demonstrations provided by Bonnie, the instructor. She felt motivated by Bonnie’s encouraging words of “ what you do today, well help you tomorrow,” and liked all of the positive messages (You’re #worthit ) written around the studio space. After the session, Michelle felt very confident in her achievement of finishing the class and overcoming a new obstacle. She was happy to see a follow-up email from the studio inviting her in for another class and some additional recovery exercises she could do until her next session.

findings: Positive affirmations and encouragement from the instructor and space made this health experience enjoyable and less overwhelming.

Feelings of achievement and overcoming obstacles create confidence in individuals.

Personalized follow-up is essential in building relationships with clients and keeping them coming back for additional services.

insights and synthesis. insights and

d synthesis. insights and synthesis.

six big insights.

From all of the research, the team found six overarching insights:

#1) There’s an information paradox A large number of resources are on the internet, but there is a disconnect between availability and accessibility and understanding what information is factual. Due to massive amounts of available information, it’s often difficult to identify what information is reliable.

#2) Wellness is part of the current zeitgeist Wellness is a trending topic, from skin care routines to workout experiences; wellness has left its home at the juice-bar and is a trend permeating into a multitude of arenas. This topic has even wedged its way into public policy in the last couple years with Mayor De Blasio’s new wellness initiative, WorkWell NYC. WorkWell NYC has partnered with companies like Weight Watchers. The term wellness has a tone that invokes the idea of incorporating self-care into everyday life. The seeds of wellness have been around for decades, but now that they are sprouting and blossoming it is important that the healthcare system is a part of the growth.

#3) What is normal?

Many people are concerned with their sexual health and reproductive wellness experience as being normal because of the lack of conversations around sexual health.

#4) There’s a disconnect in the topic of sexual health and health.

Even though sex is often evident in pop culture, it’s still a taboo topic. Some people don’t consider their sexual health as part of their general well-being and health.

Many people also have a very limited perspective of what constitutes sexual health topics. It is a very broad subject that isn’t limited to the science of the reproductive systems.

#5) People don’t want to get a check-up.

Healthcare in the US isn’t user-friendly, so people don’t want to visit the doctor.

#6) People like follow-up.

Follow-up is an important part of selfcare management that keeps clients informed, maintaining their care routine and coming back. The SRH non-profit could benefit by tapping into this tool.

so what is sexual health?

After reading and hearing stories about how many people learn about sexual health. NAM wanted to know what exactly is this elusive subject.

what does sexual health entail?

The team dug explored what sub-topics were part of sexual health and broke our findings down into six main categories: clinical syndromes, body integrity and sexual safety, eroticism, gender and sexual orientation, healthy relationships, and reproduction. Each of these categories has a multitude of subcategories that contain many offshoots, but a common denominator between this broad array of categories is that education and awareness are vital to maintaining and understanding how to create a healthy and happy lifestyle across all sectors.

With this understanding, they knew they wanted to deliver a solution that would facilitate education and encourage self-maintenance.

clinical syndromes

body integrity & sexual safety

reproduction

SEXUAL H E A LT H

eroticism

healthy relationships

gender & sexual orientation

how might we?

The team brainstormed How Might We questions. These questions set the tone for the area to explore for the ideation phase of the design thinking process. After developing an array of possible questions, the team settled on one:

how might we universally make sexual health a more routine self-care experience?

self-care is health care.

The team’s HMW question, however, inspired another question: what exactly is self-care?

So, after establishing a focus on self-care, the team sought to set definition of the term.

Self-care:

A lifestyle, a culture, an everyday routine in order to take care of mental, emotional and physical health. Self-care is the key to improving mood and reducing anxiety as well as to creating and maintaining good relationships with oneself and others. It must be actively planned and pursued; it does not just happen on its own.

focus.

The team now knew they wanted to take sexual education and reproductive care out of the traditional clinical space and make it less intimidating and more easily managed by the patient. They also sought to increase outreach and establish confidence in patients to make more informed choices regarding their health and relationships and encourage them to educate their peers.

problem statement.

International students at universities are at an age where they are exploring their sexuality, but do not have the sexual education, accurate resources, or a known and trusted place to turn for help and guidance when it comes to sexual health. These students are put at risk of creating unhealthy habits and relationships that could have dire consequences. With an early intervention, these risks could be avoided.

CRISIS PREVENTION FORMULA sexual health knowledge

daily self-care practices

ideation and prototyping. ideation and

prototyping. ideation and prototyping.

ideation.

NAM began their ideation journey by considering their HMW: How mow might we universally make sexual health a more routine self-care experience? Keeping this question in mind they quickly brainstormed possible solutions with no limitations. The ideas varied from a rebooted Dr. Ruth show, to a sexual health speakeasy, to sexual health wellness classes, to the client adding a chatbot to its website.

While this exercise produced a myriad of ideas and uncountable laughs, the team found that they wanted to focus on empowering international students by providing them with the knowledge they need to encourage them to be proactive in their sexual health.

They knew they still wanted to focus on a few findings from their research: 1) Their interviewees often disassociated sexual health from their overall health.

2) Many of the interviewees only associated their sexual health with the physical clinical components of sexual health relating to their sexual organs while neglecting other elements like social aspects, mental health, and relationships.

3) People feel scared and overwhelmed by doctor’s offices.

With an idea brewing based on the HMW and their insights, they were ready to develop a hypothesis, hone their idea, and prototype.

hypothesis.

We believe that daily, curated (by health professionals) informational, digital contact that is short and conversational will help PPNYC patients/ potential patients create routine, self-care rituals to take better care of themselves in regards to their physical/ emotional sexual health.

values.

The team tested four values that they thought they wanted to be at the heart of their service. They believed that delivering information that was evidencebased, curated to the reader and conversational in a daily manner would help to give users confidence around sexual and reproductive health and encourage daily habits/routines around the subject that would produce healthy lifestyles and prevent crisis situations.

Evidence-Based

Curated

Conversational

Routine

prototype 1.

In the first iteration of their prototype, the team tested the idea of people wanting information sent directly to them and mimicked push messages by sending possible daily push messages to potential consumers. The team also tested whether people actually did want conversational messages.

Our subjects were five international college students and firstgeneration American college students. We sent out a variety of messages from reminders to informational links to see how subjects responded to varying degrees of information and personalization.

We varied messages from sounding like they were coming from a friend “Hey! Did you know that certain foods can help with blood circulation?” to sounding more like they were coming from a professional “Self breast exams are pinnacle to breast health.” These messages were sent over a period of a few days and without warning to see if testers responses would change over time.

findings.

By talking to their subjects after they tested these messages, NAM found that they wanted their information to feel casual, conversational and fun. So, they were correct that users would prefer a conversational tone. They also found that while people wanted their information to feel casual, they wanted to know that their information was coming from a reputable source.

What many of the subjects considered reputable sources were articles written by health-care providers or from publications with which they were already familiar.

prototype 2.

In the second prototype, the team decided they wanted to send out a mock-up of an e-mail newsletter. They created a newsletter with three different subjects, fun images, and quick and easy to read descriptions that hyperlink to what they found to be considered reputable articles on the topic. They sent these emails out to ten subjects who were international college students and firstgeneration American college students. The team wanted to see how subjects responded to e-mail newsletters.

3 things

YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK

1

whatever you’re into is cool

2

what consent looks like

3

know your vocab

findings.

NAM found that their subjects enjoyed the email format of a newsletter, but they had to send the pdf we created as a link and needed to explain to the testers to open the pdf. This resulted in fewer click-throughs than the original text messages. The team also discovered, by talking to subjects and going through the newsletters with them, that they needed to be more to the point with some of our easy to read subject headliners. Users didn’t connect the title “whatever you’re into is cool” with the team’s intention of conveying the message that the user’s sexual preferences were normal.

prototype 3.

In the third prototype, NAM created a newsletter through Mail Chimp that enabled them to send their newsletter to fifteen different testing subjects (international college students and first-generation American college students) within the body of an email to see if this would receive more click-through. They also began to think about how our possible consumers would sign up for our newsletter. They created a website to allow consumers to sign up for their service. The team also made a blog space within the website to archive information from past newsletters.

The team also changed titles, changing “whatever you’re into is cool” to “you are normal” to find out if keeping the title direct and to the point would better engage the user.

it’s cool, you’re normal

need wellness goodies?

CHECK OUT MORE

CHECK OUT MORE

what consent looks like CHECK OUT MORE

expand your sex vocab

#SCIHC self-care is health care CHECK OUT MORE

findings.

After talking in person to users, interacting via e-mails and looking at click-through statistics, NAM found that users responded well to the new newsletter format. One test subject asked hopefully, “will I actually get to keep getting these? I like this!� and a few others shared this sentiment. While the information was clearer and more direct, users thought that maybe now the titles were slightly too direct making them less welcoming. Click-throughs were much higher than in the second prototype, but three users still didn’t realize that they could click on links, so this could be strengthened.

prototype 3. continued In this iteration, they began to think more about how to curate newsletters to their consumers and began to develop a ten-question quiz that would help them gage what level of understanding the user has on sexual health and what information they need to receive. The goal of this quiz was to base content on users psychographics instead of demographics so that NAM wasn’t assuming what users might already know. NAM thought this would be an optimal way of curating articles to users as opposed to just letting users decide, but wanted to find out if users agreed and if curation was important to users.

QUIZ | ARE YOU A SEXPERT? 1. Which of these contraceptives is known to protect against certrain types 1. Which of these contraceptives is ofknown sexually infections? to transmitted protect against certrain types of sexually transmitted infections?

Condoms Condoms Birth Control Pills IUD Spermicide

2. Do all STIs have symtoms?

Yes No

3. Which of these is not an effective form of birth control?

IUD The pullout method Condoms Oral contraceptives

findings.

User’s found that the quiz was helpful and testers conveyed that they often weren’t sure what information they needed to know or what information they didn’t know, the quiz gave a more accurate evaluation of their needs than the users could. However, users did want a section to check subjects they want to learn about and have more control in the process of some of the information they would receive. All testers agreed that they did want curation in information that they received.

With these findings, NAM was ready to move on to creating a final service idea.

final idea- sprinkle of self-care.

NAM developed Sprinkle of Self Care as a digital information tool that provides international students with daily, curated, digestible, information pertaining to their sexual health to provide them with the knowledge they need to create healthy habits related to their sexual health.

The team also found that by using the SRH non-profit’s existing educational materials they could maximize the potential of those resources while providing evidence-based information.

NAM has high hopes for this service as an opt-in, follow-up tool to the SRH non-profit’s patients and workshop attendees. This could create stronger connections with the SRH non-profit’s clients by keeping in touch, creating a plan, and encouraging client’s to take better care of themselves.

it’s cool, you’re normal CHECK OUT MORE

expand your sex vocab

#SCIHC self-care is health care CHECK OUT MORE

what consent looks like CHECK OUT MORE

need wellness goodies?

CHECK OUT MORE

it’s cool, you’re normal

need wellness goodies?

CHECK OUT MORE

CHECK OUT MORE

what consent looks like

it’s cool, you’re normal

need wellness goodies?

CHECK OUT MORE

CHECK OUT MORE

CHECK OUT MORE

what consent looks like

expand your sex vocab

#SCIHC self-care is health care expand CHOOSE YOUR INFO

your sex vocab

CHECK OUT MORE

#SCIHC self-care is health care CHOOSE YOUR INFO

a personalized start.

A personalized start will help users feel like Sprinkle of Self-Care is for them. Once users log-on to the website and start the initial sex quiz they will be able to identify and describe themselves as they deem appropriate.

HOW WILL THEY DO THIS “Hi My Name is [ Insert Here ], I live [ this neighborhood], I am [xx] years old. I have [ this sex organ], I am attracted to/ I like to be intimate with people with [ this sex organ].”

This language will help users feel better understood without stereotypical gender labelling and create a more user-friendly experience that doesn’t come off as judgmental or limiting.

Following the questionnaire, users will be guided through a factual sex quiz on various vocabulary, statistics, healthy behaviors, etc. to gauge how wellversed they are in sexual education. They will also have the ability through a survey to choose topics on which they would like to receive more information.

SURVEY | WHAT DO YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT?

What do you want to know?

Check the subject you want to learn more about.

Contraceptives Communication Erectile Dysfunction Healthy Relationships Menopause Pregnancy Puberty Reproduction

To receive the results, users will be prompted to sign up for the Sprinkle of Self-Care newsletter and will then receive content based on their sexual education and knowledge.

Sexually Transmitted Infections Sexual Behavior Sexual Orientation and gender

QUIZ | ARE YOU A SEXPERT?

Eventually, users can retake the quiz and receive more advanced information.

1. Which of these contraceptives is known to protect against certrain types 1. Which of these contraceptives is ofknown sexually infections? to transmitted protect against certrain types of sexually transmitted infections?

Condoms Condoms Birth Control Pills IUD Spermicide

And then as they grow their knowledge, they can eventually be invited by the non-profit to be part of their community/ educator and write their own content for the website etc.

2. Do all STIs have symtoms?

Yes No

3. Which of these is not an effective form of birth control?

IUD The pullout method Condoms Oral contraceptives

business model.

The next step for the team was to think about a business model for this service. The team did this by working on a business model canvas, which allowed them to think about the business model as a whole and look into the various components next to each other and easily rework different features.

key partners health journals student health centers health-based associations SRH non-profit medical schools/ research hospitals products/services looking for advertising space investors

key activities

resouce development newsletter creation content development marketing design

key resources branding user data newsletters & articles

value proposition

customer relationships

conversational and fact based curated information empowers users to take control of their health sexual health is your health, you’re in control

algorithms

cost structure

revenue streams

marketing personel product development

investors advertising go fund me

operations

social media semi-automated e-mail

channels social media website newsletters college orientations word-of-mouth health centers

customer segments international students current SRH non-profit users colleges & universities

marketing.

Social Media

Since the team is aiming to cater to millennials, a presence on Instagram is essential. Through Instagram’s business account the client will be able to promote Sprinkle Of Self-Care posts and target people based on location, age, gender, language, etc. and even find people who are similar to existing patients/ customers.

Search Engine Optimization

The client can utilize Google AdWords to bring in new visitors to the site and help Sprinkle of Self-Care be found by people on Google precisely when they are searching for sexual health and reproductive education information.

Partnerships / Self-Promotion

Sprinkle of Self-Care will be introduced to students at participating universities through orientations, through classes and workshops or through the client’s facilities. The client will also be able to pass out brochures or additional marketing kit content in their offices and clinics.

Word-of-Mouth

The other channel will be word-of-mouth strategies. Given the target audience’s trend toward being digitally connected and sharing information about emails and websites, we hypothesize that many users will learn about Sprinkle Of Self-Care through classmates and peers.

Orientations

Orientation events provide an into international students and target students when they first arrive at campus and the U.S. It is important to be a part of fun outreach events that receive a significant amount of foot traffic from students to explain and sign students up for Sprinkle of Self-Care.

financials.

The team estimated financial costs and incomes based on the use of the SRH non-profit’s current content in their service.

execution.

Integration

Sprinkle of Self-Care can be integrated into the client’s current communication model with limited additional resources. As long as patient opt-in to the service, they can be added to the client’s database of digital communication and have information sent out to them. Assuming the client already utilizes a Customer Relation Management (CRM) tool, the client can easily input and manage the personalized content of Sprinkle of Self-Care.

Administration

Sprinkle of Self-Care can be administrated and executed by the client’s current education/ outreach or marketing teams. As this follow-up tool should be utilized to push existing content to the client’s growing database, materials for this communication route will already exist and will not need to be duplicated. Sprinkle of Self-Care will help the client learn not only where their clientele is in their educational process but also what they want to learn and topics desired.

updates & continuous developement.

The information gathered from user’s click-throughs and feedback will influence any new content the client creates. These new opportunities can be discussed at kick-off and implementation meetings by the education or marketing team.

This way, users can continue to get new flows of information that they find relevant, meaningful and applicable.

Through the information and insights gathered from Sprinkle of Self-Care, the client can pinpoint trending topics or concerns and update its own sexual and reproductive health education programs, workshops or outreach programs.

These assessments can be made on a yearly basis as to properly plan and allocate the client’s current resources.

what the team found.

Why are international students an optimal target market?

International students are required to have health insurance. This means that this new target market will provide revenue for the SRH non-profit.

International students build communities and develop relationships with non-student immigrants within New York City. By creating trust and connection to international college students, the SRH non-profit is creating an inroad to these students’ networks. This provides a future opportunity to communities the client could not access before.

These international students have the potential to become supporters and educators for the SRH non-profit.

why are international students an optimal target market?

conclusion.

The experience of working with such a prominent client in sexual and reproductive health care has been an honor for team NAM NAM NAM. Being a part of such a significant movement and engaging with multi-layered challenges has provided the team with the opportunity for growth and an understanding of design thinking skills. The support of both the school and the client created a learning environment that equipped the team with the resources and abilities to move forward with confidence into the next steps of their education and careers. The team strongly believes that the implementation of their service could similarly provide users with the same confidence to make knowledgeable decisions and create healthy habits.

resources.

Jones, Maggie. “What Teenagers are Learning from Online Porn”. The New York Times. Feb 7, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/magazine/teenagers-learning-online-porn-literacy-sex-education.html Kumar, Vijay. 101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 2013.

Moskowitz, Jon. “How Sex Education Is Taught To Kids Around The World, From Sweden To Cuba.” Fatherly.

Nov 2, 2016. https://www.fatherly.com/health-science/international-sex-education/ NYCEDC. “International Students in NYC.” Jan 28, 2014. https://www.nycedc.com/blog-entry/international-students-nyc Ogilvie, Tim, and Jeanne Liedtka. Design For Growth. Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking ToolKit for Managers. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.

Stickdorn, Mark, and Jakob Schneider. This is service design thinking. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers, 2011.

The Wellness Project NYC. http://www.thewellnessprojectnyc.com/ World Health Organization. “Sexual and Reproductive Health.”

http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/sexual_health/issues/en/

Sprinkle of Self-care Michelle Rotbart

Alexis Madara

Nirav Tolani