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Pictured ABOVE Low fidelity mockups of initial VR concepts
Project Overview
Project name Health Equity Among Black Women in the United States started by Kelly La, Doris Zhou, Martha Brandt(me), Gywnne Richardson
My role UX researcher and designer
Date August 2021 - Recent
Why is this issue relevant?
In light of the recent Texas abortion restriction bill, the topic of women’s reproductive health has been propelled into the national spotlight. Women, especially women of color, struggle to access comfortable and safe healthcare. This topic is relevant to the course given its connection to healthcare access through the use of technology.
Target user
Women of color, mainly African American women, and their access to reproductive health
Primary Concern
Black women are simply are not receiving the same quality of reproductive health care that their white counterparts receive, and this second-rate health care is shortening their lives. We focused our study of women of color, mainly African American women, and thier healthcare experiences.
Research Question
How are black women affected by the inequalities of health care, and to what extent does the doctor’s background (race, gender, religion etc.) affect a female patient’s satisfaction with the healthcare system?
Research Methodology
Pictured ABOVE VISUALIZATION OF WHAT RESEARCH METHODS WE USED TO DEVELOP OUR FINAL SOLUTION
Research Plan
Pictured ABOVE VISUALIZATION OF MAJOR STEPS WE TOOK TO ANSWER OUR RESEARCH QUESTION
Literature Review Findings
“As soon as they look at the patient and see [she's] African American or Latino, they assume automatically that [she's] doesn't have insurance at all”
Although everyone has implicit biases, our research shows that African Americans, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ are more likely to be negatively impacted.
Most negative patient experiences were due to...
Insufficient information and impersonal care from their physician during visits
Poor and/or no communication with providers on next steps after visits
Feelings of being pressured with treatment plans based on perceptions of financial stability
Perceptions of racially based discrimination in counseling.
Current healthcare solutions to mitigate discrimination are...
Implicit bias trainings to improve the care provided to patients which proved somewhat successful in that many physicians did not realize the extent of their internal biases prior to training.
Most implicit bias training solutions offered today are offline, not interactive, not collaborative and had an overall bad user experience.
Conducted survey with 8 women that identify as black
Through a qualitative study with seven female participants, we conducted surveys and interviews to find key insights about women’s struggles in healthcare.
Pictured LEFT DATA VISUALIZATION OF SHOWING THAT MOST PARTICIPANTS FEEL RACE IS A FACTOR IN THIER QUALITY OF CARE
Pictured RIGHT DATA VISUALIZATION SHOWING THAT ALL PARTICIPANTS WOULD LIKE OR ARE OPEN TO A DOCTOR OF SIMILAR EXPERIENCES AS THEM
Affinity Diagramming
We found were that most stereotyping was connected to race but other factors that came up a lot was stereotyping based on location.
Some participants acknowledge stereotyping due to assumed socioeconomic background based on race. Some participants expressed feelings of hopelessness when asked to suggest a solution to this issue.
"What kind of training could make people be a good person? What can training can you give a doctor that is already racist. “Treat everybody like your mom, like your sister, like your child”" These responses validated the importance of empathy training.
A common trend was that all participants sought African American providers, even when they experienced mistreatment from African American providers in the past due to better communication.
Most participants highly value providers taking time to build a good relationship, one mentioning that her current provider has personal conversations prior to giving care.
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Our Solution
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Pictured ABOVE VIRTUAL SCENARIO OF A middle class black women going to a hospital in a lower class neighborhood and being TREATED as A drug ADDICT WHEN ASKING FOR MORE PAINKILLERS.
Limitations
The major issue with empathy training is that ultimately it is the choice of the participant to address this problem internally or not. There is no immersive VR experience that can perfectly replicate the present-day effects of 400 years of subjugation or the generational trauma of a people. VR can momentarily create insights into the lives of women of color but cannot allow you to really feel the lived experiences or struggles they experience.
Next Steps
Test and measure the effectiveness of trainings using a required assessment that asks the employee to reflect on what they just experienced, hoping that over time the reflections show a more empathetic user.
