Self-care Research Project
Capstone project completed in fall 2018.
Self-care (noun) is any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health.
Importance
Self-care is important to maintain a healthy relationship with yourself as it produces positive feelings and boosts your confidence and self-esteem. (Source)
Drawing by research interviewee
Wellness Trend
Today’s customers want to be healthy and happy. Customers are showing an increasing preference for participating in activities and indulging in experiences that promote their well-being.
Millennials spend twice as much as boomers on self care essentials such as workout regimens, diet plans, life coaching, therapy and apps to improve their personal well-being.
Stress decreases our overall health. Our stress level spike and our productivity drops. Stress can zap concentration, make us depressed, and harm our relationships with others.
Self-improvement makes us happier and content. Self-improvement helps one develop their own personality and their mind in a manner which is fruitful to their health.
Being outside is important for your health. Those who are able to soak up everything nature has to offer find out why being outside is important—it comes down to health.
Healthcare is unaffordable. More people use online resources to find information about their well-being.
Research Question
How do we help people achieve an overall positive wellbeing?
Drawing by research interviewee
Research Methods
Seven in-person interview with exercises.
Day in The Life
Participants were asked to draw or write a good day and a bad day.
Imagery Deck
Participants were asked to choose 3 cards from an imagery deck that helps explain how they view positive lifestyle.
Routine Drawing
Participants were asked to draw their current self-care routine
Questions
A list of questions about their experience on self-care.
Drawing by research interviewee
Analysis
What problems were discovered?
In my online survey (Surveymonkey with 49 responses), the number one priority was work or school. Technology makes workers accessible around the clock. Fears of job loss incentivize longer hours.
Not everyone has equal access to healthcare. Healthcare can be unaffordable. When it comes to health, we associate higher prices are better.
1 out of 4 Americans describe themselves “super stressed”. Our Stress levels spike and our productivity drops. Stress can zap concentration, make us depressed, and harm our relationships with others.
In my survey, the second top rated priority was eating. At the same time, the survey rated eating as number one struggle for them (as well as exercise).
Themes
Self-care is understanding body signals.
Self-care is changing one's environment, even simply going outside.
Self-care is a routine.
Self-care is self improvement.
Self-care is affordable.
Self-care requires motivation to be proactive.
Self-care is feeling and looking good.
Self-care is balancing work or school life.
Self-care is devoting time for family and friends.
It's hard to navigate information and help on self-care.
Insights and Opportunities
Jumping into a positive lifestyle too quickly creates unsuccessful balanced routine.
Help guide users successfully start a routine by slowly introducing positive lifestyle habits.
Unaware of what the body is being deprived of, imbalances the overall health.
Help track and detect what the body is lacking or having too much of.
New clean space or fresh air can help recharge your overall health.
Get users to take breaks or simple environment changes to refresh the mind.
Unable to finish daily tasks throws off balance and feeling of accomplishment.
Help keep track of goals and daily accomplishments to feel rewarded.
The easy access to online information makes it difficult to verify credibility.
Create a tool to easily found credible information about self-care and wellbeing.
Difficulties to prioritize work-life balance due to lack of time management.
Design users a tool to allow a balance of work/school and allowing quality unplugged time.