Abstract
This paper attempts at understanding the core issues plaguing neonatal healthcare amongst the urban sector in India, the approach taken to understand these issues and the implications of the approach. It points out the opportunity for design interventions at various junctures. An attempt has been made to go deeper into the practical problems being faced by the various stakeholders - Mother and family (father, mother-in-law, and maternal members), Doctor and support staff (nurses, attendants), Public health officer/NGO and support staff (aanganvadi and community level health workers), and Baby products shopkeepers. The research takes into account the demographic breakup, socio-economic and cultural environments and emotional needs of the stakeholders. Extensive field visits, qualitative interviews in naturalistic environments, contextual inquiries and innovative analytics post that have led to strong insights that point to interesting design directions. Video, photo and audio documentation was done to rebuild the scenarios during the analysis phase. The entire research was converged and distilled into 2 point of views that suggest a definitive direction in solving the problems in neonatal healthcare with design intervention through product, service and technology intervention.
Keywords
Neonatal healthcare, design research, action research, low birth weight
Citation
Mehta, P. (2012) Design Research in Neonatal Healthcare in Urban India, in Israsena, P., Tangsantikul, J. and Durling, D. (eds.), Research: Uncertainty Contradiction Value - DRS International Conference 2012, 1-4 July, Bangkok, Thailand. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2012/researchpapers/88
Design Research in Neonatal Healthcare in Urban India
This paper attempts at understanding the core issues plaguing neonatal healthcare amongst the urban sector in India, the approach taken to understand these issues and the implications of the approach. It points out the opportunity for design interventions at various junctures. An attempt has been made to go deeper into the practical problems being faced by the various stakeholders - Mother and family (father, mother-in-law, and maternal members), Doctor and support staff (nurses, attendants), Public health officer/NGO and support staff (aanganvadi and community level health workers), and Baby products shopkeepers. The research takes into account the demographic breakup, socio-economic and cultural environments and emotional needs of the stakeholders. Extensive field visits, qualitative interviews in naturalistic environments, contextual inquiries and innovative analytics post that have led to strong insights that point to interesting design directions. Video, photo and audio documentation was done to rebuild the scenarios during the analysis phase. The entire research was converged and distilled into 2 point of views that suggest a definitive direction in solving the problems in neonatal healthcare with design intervention through product, service and technology intervention.