Tag Archive for: technology

Behind the Science: Designing for Pregnancy After Loss, With and Through Technology

Interviewee: Kamala Payyapilly Thiruvenkatanathan, PhD candidate, Pennsylvania State University. Authors/Editors: Romina Garcia de leon, Shayda Swann (Blog Co-coordinator).

Published: October 21tst 2022. 

Could you briefly explain your research?

My research is situated at the intersection of women’s health and technology with a specific focus on pregnancy after loss. There has been a rising emphasis on designing technology for women’s health and this has led to the growth of the FemTech industry. FemTech is an abbreviation for “Female Technology” and is inclusive of a plethora of women’s health systems ranging from menstrual and fertility trackers to smart wearables that track women’s intimate health data to artificial intelligence based diagnostic devices. Among women’s health issues addressed, there has been an increasing focus on the pregnant body as a site of research and intervention. And yet, the pregnant and the maternal body are used interchangeably, neglecting a common but an unpleasant outcome of pregnancy loss and the associated felt experiences of women navigating pregnancy after loss. Pregnancy loss which encompasses miscarriage and stillbirth is incredibly common and approximately 80% of women get pregnant again after loss. However, their pregnancy journey is never the same given the physical and the emotional trauma they experienced during pregnancy loss. Attending to the rising interest in designing interventions for pregnancy and maternal health, alongside the ongoing call to question the stigmatization of women’s bodies, my research centers a common but tabooed experience of pregnancy after loss.

What got you interested in this research?

As a human, I seek fulfillment in making a positive impact in the lives of the underserved, those who are truly in need. At a young age, I was not aware of a career that allowed me to embrace my personal value of wanting to serve the underserved. Parking it aside, I decided to step into a typical, professional career journey that would eventually fetch me a job. Before setting foot into my doctoral path, I was a trained computer science engineer, with my understanding of technology limited to its functionality. I considered my ability to comprehend technology’s inner workings as my strength. A few years later, during my attempt to make a career detour in search of fulfillment, I was introduced to the domain of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). I always had a passion for design and HCI revealed ways through which I could combine my technological strength with that of design. More importantly, HCI rekindled my yearning to help those in need, by exposing me to the world of humanistic research. Reflecting on my personal values and my positionality as a woman led to the pursuit of research on women’s health, acknowledging women’s lived bodily experiences. My stumbling upon the world of FemTech by chance also enabled ways to reinforce my ability to comprehend (and perhaps design) technology. My observations along with a critical reflection of my personal values, of wanting to design for the margins, motivated me to design for the neglected felt experiences of women navigating pregnancy after loss, with and through technology.

What impact do you hope to see with this work years from now?

The ultimate goal of my research is to bring to the forefront the lived bodily experiences of women navigating pregnancy after loss. Discussing pregnancy loss and pregnancy after loss continues to be a taboo. I hope for my research to contribute to the emancipatory research agenda within women’s health in HCI, bringing to the fore a stigmatized and yet common experience of pregnancy loss. Additionally, as a part of my research process, I aim to design with women that could lead to concrete design implications on tangible FemTech systems that employ emerging technologies to support the unique needs of women experiencing pregnancy after loss. Ultimately, I hope for my work to contribute to the de-stigmatization of pregnancy loss and reimagining the pregnant body, considering unique unheard experiences of women navigating pregnancy after loss. 

 Can you tell us about any barriers you’ve faced advocating for women’s health in the human-computer interaction field? 

Despite a growing trend in HCI towards experience, embodied interactions, and leisure technologies, some topics related to the body, such as women’s health and human sexuality, remain to be a taboo. Given the taboos associated with designing for women’s bodies, it takes extra efforts and often an activist stance, to invoke discussions related to the need to design considering women’s embodied, lived experiences. Additionally, with the emergence of women’s health technologies, there is a need to understand how technology conditions women’s bodies and generate implications towards designing better women’s health technologies. However, as a woman, my own subjectivity and positionality often meddles with my interpretation and critique of women’s health technologies and it often gets challenging to convey the same in an acceptable form, to the research community.

What is the best way for people to learn more about your work?

You can find more about my work on my website. 

 

Understanding the Lived Experience of Perimenopause, Menopause and Post-Menopause


Author: Bhairavi Warke, PhD Student, Simon Fraser University Editors: Negin Nia and Arrthy Thayaparan (Blog Coordinators)

Published: April 8th, 2022

What is lived experience of Menopause?

Menopause is when one has gone an entire year without a menstrual period. The average age for menopause is 51 years. It is preceded by Perimenopause, when women start noticing physical and psychological changes, and followed by post-menopause. This transition can be challenging for many due to symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, etc. Not only does it affect women’s physical and psychological well-being, but it may significantly affect their personal and social lives. For example, menopause symptoms can cause limitations in family life, relationships, professional activities, and more. Additionally, every woman’s experience can greatly vary in terms of the severity and duration of symptoms. For some, the symptoms of menopause can last over a decade and thus, significantly lower their Quality of Life (QoL). 

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Quality of Life as, “an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live, and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. QoL is a multi-dimensional concept affected in a complex way by the person’s physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, personal beliefs and their relationship to their environment.”  

Although it is a natural phase of life, most women struggle to find relevant information that may help them navigate the menopause journey. Women often feel a sense of isolation or lack of support in social settings. Now-a-days, women exchange information in smaller close-knit groups or over online menopause forums to seek help and support beyond their doctors. Despite the sheer number of people who experience menopause, it still seems to bear stigma and is not yet a commonplace topic in public discourses. Menopause is seen as a personal and private health condition than a regular aspect of life and women are expected to “just figure it out” themselves as they go through it. In addition, post-menopausal women are more vulnerable to heart disease, osteoporosis, and breast, ovarian, or uterine cancers. Thus, understanding the impact of the menopause transition on women’s day-to-day lives, i.e. the lived experience, is crucial to address some of the challenges they face.

Why is it important?

We know that menopause is influenced by more than the physiological changes associated with it. The socio-cultural understandings of menopause have a significant impact on women’s experience of it. However, we know little about how this affects women’s ability to adapt to the new phase of life. Menopause and aging women’s needs are often ignored or rarely discussed in mainstream healthcare product and service innovations. This makes it a hidden reality that not only impacts women’s preparedness for this journey, but it also influences how they can participate and contribute to society. Moreover, the socio-economic burdens and costs of healthcare for women in menopause can be very high. Studies have shown that education, appropriate guidance and effective management can have real benefits in improving women’s QoL as they go through this transition.

Opportunities in Personal Technology

Personalised self-care technologies are becoming more and more ubiquitous. For example, we are surrounded by a large number of fitness trackers and health apps. These technologies focus on tracking personal data like weight, energy levels, physical activities, time usage, sleep and learning strategies, and are intended for self-improvement and behaviour change. Despite their growing success, the existing landscape of interactive self-tracking tools for menopause care is sparse, often limited to period tracking, coaching and information sharing applications. There are a lack of meaningful interventions that could help women through their menopause journey, beyond just tracking symptoms, and seamlessly integrate it within their lifestyles to improve their quality of life.

Where can we start?

To design better self-care tools that are useful for women experiencing menopause, we need to: a) talk to experts in women’s health, and b) understand the lived experience of menopause from women themselves. 

In the initial stage of this research, we, the researchers at the Pain Studies Lab in SFU, are planning to conduct a participatory workshop to explore the lived experiences of menopause from experts in women’s health and from women who are experiencing perimenopause, menopause or post-menopause. The workshop will be conducted online via video conferencing (like Zoom) and participants will discuss how the different stages of menopause affect the day-to-day realities of someone’s life. The workshop will conclude with a short brainstorming activity to explore ideas of what may help women during this transition and benefit their long-term quality of life.

How can we get in contact with you?

If you are an academic researcher or professional expert working in fields related to women’s health or menopause care, WE NEED YOUR HELP! 

Please contact me at bwarke@sfu.ca if you would like to participate in this 2.5-hr online workshop. Participants will be compensated with $20 for their time and contribution.

(Note: We refer to all individuals experiencing symptoms of menopause as ‘women’ in this article. However, we acknowledge all individuals who may or may not identify as ‘women,’ but experience menopause or like symptoms, as a part of this research.)

Canadian food programs and policies: the role of social media in promoting eating for body shape


Author: Alysha L. Deslippe, MSc, Doctoral Student, Human Nutrition, University of British Columbia | Editors: Negin Nia and Arrthy Thayaparan (Blog Coordinators) 

Published: January 14th, 2022

Editor’s Note: This story discusses diet culture, eating disorders, and harmful food habits. If you or someone you know is struggling, call 1-866-NEDIC-20 or visit NEDIC.

No programs or policies exist in Canada that address how social media may impact the relationship between eating and body shape. A review in 2016 found that social media plays a large role in our relationship with food, and often not a positive one. As eating habits track forward, Canada’s food guide suggests supporting teens’ development of healthy eating habits. Teen girls in particular may face unique pressures on eating through their social media use.

Body shape can influence teen girls’ food choices

Researchers like Dr.Vartanian suggest that we alter the type or amount of food we eat to manage other people’s expectations. This includes historically pressures on women and girls to be thin. To address this, Dr. Vartanian suggests lower-calorie foods (e.g., salad instead of a double hamburger) or less foods (e.g., small fries versus large fries) are consumed. Teen girls as young as 13-15 years of age have also  shown evidence of this. In an experiment where researchers watched what teens ate with a friend, girls ate less and chose healthier foods compared to boys. Another study in Canada found a link between eating less and body concerns using one-on-one interviews. Researchers individually interviewed a teen (13-14 years) and one of their parents. Forty-six percent of interviewed parents expressed concern that their daughters were decreasing how much they ate to control body shape. Parents in this sample did not express this concern for their sons. Instead, parents put pressure on their sons to eat more to gain size. As teen girls undergo physical changes in body fat distribution with puberty, they may be more vulnerable to historical pressure to be thin around this age. 

Social media can harm the relationship between food and body shape in teen girls 

When children enter their teens, their use of social media goes up. For example, in a study looking into app use, 96% (97/102) of 12–16 year-olds and 100% (63/63) of 17-18 year-olds used social media. Instagram and Snapchat platforms are often reported as the most used. In a study looking at social media use (including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Tumblr) and eating in Australia, 68% of the 534 girls from grade 7 and 8 involved said they had an Instagram account. A further 59% reported having Snapchat. The girls self-reported what social media accounts they had and if they used any ‘disorder eating practices.’ Dietitians of Canada suggest that disordered eating practices can harm health and well-being. Some examples of these eating practices include binge eating, eating only in secret, skipping meals, restricting food intake or excessive exercise to make up for eating. 

In the study above, looking at links between social media use and eating, the Australian researchers found that girls’ use of social media platforms was related to harmful eating practices. For example, using Snapchat and ‘meal skipping’, ‘eating little food’, ‘following a strict meal plan’ or ‘strict exercise plan’. Using Instagram was linked to ‘skipping meals’ and having a ‘strict exercise plan’ as well. The other two social media platforms (Facebook and Tumblr) investigated were also related to girls’ reports of ‘following a strict exercise plan’. The researchers suggest that this implies that both images of very thin or very fit folks, common on social media regardless of platform, can have a  negative impact on teens eating. This matches work from other countries too. 

We need more research to guide food programs and policies targeting social media use in Canada

Clear guidelines for Canadian food programs and policy are needed to address how social media can shape relationships between body shape and eating in teen girls. Some researchers have called for programs or policies focusing on media literacy. This approach focuses on helping teens identify unrealistic body shape standards. This may be an effective approach, but we need more research in the Canadian context first. Little work has explored how social media use impacts Canadian teen girls’ eating choices. Instead, a 2016 review revealed that most work looking at social media and eating comes from the United States or Europe. We also need to understand how teen girls’ experiences with social media may differ from other gender groups. This includes boys, or teens who identify as transgender, gender fluid or bi-gendered. Programs and policy will need to account for these differences to ensure that all Canadian teens, regardless of gender, receive support to eat free from pressures of body shape.