A cultural probe exploring the perceptions of mental health amongst different generations in families of the AAPI community

 
 

Tasks

Secondary Research
Cultural Probe Design

Team

Eileen Yan (Just me!)

Context

Class project for CGT 522: UXD Fundamentals at Purdue University

  • Background

    Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are three times less likely to seek professional help for their mental health than Caucasians (American Psychological Association). From a young age, many AAPIs learn about the sacrifices their parents and grandparents made to emigrate to America. This enforces the belief that the hardships of AAPIs are not as valid, which prevents them from sharing their mental health struggles for fear of guilt and shame. Furthermore, mental illness has been deeply stigmatized in Asian Culture, and AAPI parents and grandparents might not recognize it as a legitimate disease.

  • Goal of the Probe

    I wanted to understand the gap between participants’ perception of their mental health and how they believe their family perceives it. The target user group includes 1st or 2nd generation AAPIs, whose parents or grandparents immigrated to America from an Asian country.

RESEARCH DIRECTION

What, if any, gaps exist between the participants’ perception of mental health and their family’s views about mental health?

IDEATION

Initial Sketches

I wanted my probe to inquire about participants and family members in a visual and reflective manner, so I explored designs that focused on these two interactions. Several of my ideas can be seen below.

A family tree type design in which participants sketch their family members. This would provide an overview of all family members.

A chart design in which participants sketch their family members and write reflections about their perceptions about mental health.

 

A booklet design in which participants sketch accompanying images for their family members and reflect upon their perceptions about mental health. Participants cut and divide the perceptions into two groups - views about mental health that align with their own and views that differ from their own.

 

Prototyping the design

I decided to move forward with the booklet design. In this design, participants sketch images of their mental health, themselves, and their family members. I wanted them to sketch out these images so that they could reference a visual representation of themselves and their family members as they write the reflections. Furthermore, I was interested in discovering how participants would represent their mental health in a drawing, and if any similar trends would appear between the sketches of different participants.

Participants sketch an image of themselves and reflect upon their own perceptions about mental health. Several questions to consider are provided on a separate card.

Participants sketch an image of each family member and reflect upon how each person perceives mental health. Questions to consider are provided on a separate card.

 

Participants cut out the reflective side of the booklet and each point that has been made on the page. After the green paper has been cut, they can see their drawing of their mental health beside their drawing of themselves. I hope that this reveal will allow participants to compare their perspective of their own mental health to their perspective of themselves as a whole.

The paper strips would be separated into two piles: “Views that align with my own” and “Views that differ from my own.” In doing so, participants will see if there is a significant difference between their own views and the views of their family.

 
 

RESULTS

Drawings created by three participants

Participants noted that their families did not discuss or acknowledge mental health as they were growing up. Instead, participants learned about the significance of mental health through school and peers.

Out of the three participants, two noted that their parents did not seem to regard mental health as a valid health concern or take care of their own mental health. Nonetheless, other family members, such as siblings, recognized the importance of mental health.

Ultimately, the lack of communication between AAPI parents and their children seems to significantly contribute to existing gaps in their perceptions about mental health.

REFLECTION

Growing up, I felt somewhat of a disconnect between my own perception of mental health and my family’s perception of mental health. Many of my friends of the AAPI community have noted similar feelings. Although mental health looks different for everyone, I noticed that the “my mental health” drawings had similar themes that demonstrate how an individual’s mental health consists of ups and downs.

Despite the insights that I uncovered, I realized that the design of this probe could be improved for future iterations. Namely, having participants separate their family’s perceptions about mental health seemed unnecessary. I could expand upon my probe by adding items that would prompt further reflection from participants - for example, they could write a letter to their parents about mental health. Nonetheless, creating this probe was a wonderful experience, and I enjoyed exploring a topic that is meaningful to me.