LC Buddy - Part 1
LC Buddy - Part 1
Embedded Files
Identifying HCI opportunities in designing tools for Lactation Consulting Professionals. The main goals of this nee-finding study were:
Understand how lactation consultants (LCs) from Brazil help mothers breastfeed (in-person and remotely);
Identify the main issues LCs face in remote settings and ways to improve remote consultation, increasing accessibility of these professionals in the Global South;
The need-finding study
The need-finding study
A formative study was conducted through 1-on-1 in-depth qualitative interviews with LCs with different levels of experience and different backgrounds. The interview consisted of open questions and provided contextual information about the work of LCs, their motivations to work in this field, their profile, and study routines to become a certified IBCLC, verifying aspects of their experiences that worked and did not work for them in virtual settings.
The study's main contributions were as follows:
The study's main contributions were as follows:
(1) Interview with 6 lactation consultants from Brazil, with varying backgrounds and levels of experience. Each LC responded to 20 questions related to their consulting work and learning experiences in both virtual and in-person environments.
(2) Analysis of the main challenges the lactation consultant community faces when providing maternal care and their sentiments regarding working in virtual settings.
(3) Identification of areas in which the HCI community can contribute to LCs professionals having better experiences and higher adoption of virtual tools for a broader reach of lactation support worldwide.
Methodology
Methodology
Participant's demographics
In total, there were 20 questions for the in-depth interviews.
The questions were split into four categories: (a) background and context information, (b) education history and learning experiences, (c) work and general practice, and (d) remote work experiences of lactation professionals.
The interviews were conducted in Brazilian Portuguese, which were later transcribed and translated for further analysis.
The decision to employ the inductive coding approach for data analysis was driven by its capacity to provide flexibility, enhance comprehension of user needs, and enable an open exploration of areas in which HCI could improve the stakeholder's life.
Interview Questionnaire
Interview Questionnaire
Key Findings
Key Findings
The table below summarizes common issues and impression on remote consultations from the interviewees. Mainly, the major topics found during data analysis were the following:
LC’s sentiment around remote consultation is varied;
Virtual consultations can be difficult due to dulled senses;
Physical manipulation is missing in virtual settings;
Remote lactation consulting is useful for mothers’ independent learning;
Annotations on videos are a way to provide feedback to the mother;
Use of tools differ based on LC's level of experience.
Design Opportunities
Design Opportunities
The study identified a few potential directions based on the general themes uncovered in the interviews. The following list shows applications that could impact how remote lactation consulting is conducted in the future.
Wearable microphone on the mother to help LCs hear better during remote consultations;
Annotation and video review tools for remote sessions;
Dashboard for LCs to have a better presence of their patients;
Building a virtual library of difficult and rare conditions for lactation education;
Outcomes from this study
Outcomes from this study
The findings from this project were the first step in my Ph.D. thesis. The field of maternal care and promoting breastfeeding support is an area of several possibilities. Listening to the healthcare providers who experienced many cases and carry the personal history of their patients allowed me to closely understand their work dynamics and how there is so much that technology can do to help these professionals reach more people and reduce the burden of LCs/midwife nurses and doulas, especially in the Global South and Latin America.
This preliminary investigation was published in the form of an extended abstract. Please refer to it if you want to know more details about the findings.
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