The Mim: Your Mental Health Companion
Speculative, Product, Research, 3D, Packaging
Thesis with Havells ltd. | Individual | Feb - July 2021
THE CHALLENGE: To identify and devise an Intervention in the Area of Personal Health Monitoring
THE APPROACH: Secondary Research, One to one and focused questionnaires and group interviews with Stakeholders, Iteration, Prototyping, Testing
THE OUTPUT: THE MIM - An Artefact to help with calming through breathing guides and monitoring of the different vitals of the body
Due to the active role played by non-verbal cues, empathy, the subjectivity of each person’s relationship with mental health and the overall experience of professionals in the field of mental health, it is very difficult to create a holistic care system to cure or treat mental health issues such as stress, anxiety or depression. Instead, I have chosen to focus on: INSTANT CALMING DOWN FOR THOSE WITH STRESS, ANXIETY, DEPRESSIVE EPISODES ETC.
Falling at the intersection of Health Care and Health monitoring is the MIM, your mental health companion.
The Mim is a small breathing guide made out of fabric and electrical components. It expands, contracts, and uses haptic feedback to guide your breathing. By reading and understanding your body's physical markers, which can be indicative of stress, the Mim guides with exercises most appropriate for your body at the moment. As your levels of discomfort change, so do the exercises. In addition, the Mim records the frequency and duration of use so you can monitor your growth in your own time. Packed with many Multisensory elements, the Mim aims to give you many channels of comfort.
PROCESS
CHOOSING A SPACE:
I began by exploring the different areas within Health Monitoring that were of interest to me. These included areas like Geriatric Health, Pet Care, Foetal Care, Physiotherapy for children and more. These were either validated or put aside based on general interviews with professionals in the areas. Monitoring of Mental Health was born out of these conversations.
Research Approach
+ Understanding that the experience of mental health difficulties varies from person to person and is often very very personal and is a sensitive and personal topic. Proceed with caution.
+ Think of challenging research questions that didn't have any right or wrong answers.
+ Rely on my past experience with mental health but only as a means to propel me into new areas of exploration.
+ Acknowledge what I don't know and involve as many people as possible in this project. From professionals to prospective users and individuals with experience with mental health illnesses or troubles.
+ It is vital to my process and this project to have a constant stream of feedback and intervention from people who may know about different or more things than I do.
Defining Research Questions
These vary from general to specific. The aim of these questions is to not only satisfy some of my curiosity but also to open new doors and reveal new directions for my project.
For Instance:
"What are the effects of continued health monitoring on what and how an individual thinks about their health? How does this differ for manual and automatic monitoring?"
" How might we use tech to encourage people to do what works for them such as encouragement to reach out to speak to a person etc?"
" What is the importance of a human being in this process? Which kinds of human interactions exist in this space and how may they compare with one another?"
CONCEPT, IDEATON, AND PROTOTYPING
Secondary Research
- Research Papers and journals and articles
- Internet Forums on Mental health
- Books
- Case Studies
Areas explored can be broadly categorised into the following:
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The body and its response to Stress, Anxiety, Depression etc
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Dealing with Stress, Anxiety, Depression etc.
- Treatment
- Existing Objects for Stress control and Mental Health
- Coping mechanisms, exercises -
Technology Based Interventions for Health / Mental Health
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In-depth research on Mental Health Apps
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Breathing as a calming mechanism
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Studies on Tactile interfaces for stress reduction
Primary Research
+ Online Surveys or Questionnaires
A. Smart Health Monitoring Devices Survey
52 Respondents in 24 Hours | Ages: 20-59
B. Mental Health and Me
146 RESPONDENTS | Ages: 15 – 60+ |
Detailed answers to 15 Qs
+ In-Depth Interviews
A. With patients or individuals suffering from Mental Health issues
B. With mental health professionals
+ Question asked and interactions on online Forums like reddit or Discussions on Mental Health Websites
TESTING + FEEDBACK
4 days, 10 individuals | Moderated in-person structured testing for the product
Duration: roughly an hour and was video recorded
Individuals interacted with the objects and completed some simple tasks to give insight into the workings of the project.
INSIGHTS
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The vibrations alone didn’t correlate to breathing for the users.
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Users were not sure on how exactly the Mim was supposed to help them.
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Actual Effect of the Artefact in times of Distress could not be accurately gauged
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Users felt the novelty may wear off and they may get bored of using the Mim
THE MIM
Future Plans
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A fully functional prototype with sensor data
And conduct another round of testing with the new version of the Mim. This time I would want to leave the Mim with individuals suffering from issues for a week at a time to see its effect over multiple uses in the situation it would eventually be used in. Without my presence in a controlled environment, I would want to see how the experience of the object changes.
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Aim this product towards much younger audiences
Due to the pandemic and limits in data collection, research and testing, I could only collect data from people aged 18 and above. It is known that many coping mechanisms as well as many mental health issues find their roots in an individual’s childhood. If treating yourself with care and doing things to make yourself feel better can be taught to children, it may pave a path to an easier journey
3. Create a platform to show the organisation of the monitoring Data to the users should they choose to view it
For this project, I have worked more on the concept and the system but now I would want to work more on the details of other parts of the systems other than the interactions with the object.
4. Making the object a lot more accessible
I would want to make the object available to individuals even of a lower socioeconomic background. The need for such an object in those spheres is to be determined