Reflection

Being a teenager is had enough, adding a life or death disease to their lives adds on a huge amount of stress.  

THE PROCESS: 

Empathy: My sister was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on September 11^th, 2012. Every time she eats she has to; check her blood sugar, manage her diet, record the amount of insulin she gives herself, and track her highs and lows. 

Discovery: I completed interviews, surveys, and online research. 

Interpretation: New Problem Statement: There needs to be a way to help diabetic teens manage their stress levels to prevent long lasting health risks.  

Ideation: App-> Sports -> Diabetic Play

Prototype: Diabetic Play is an after school program for diabetic students. The purpose of the program is to have students play games and do activities in a stress free way

Test: I have asked people in my classes, high school friends, diabetic friends, and people in my dorm (all teenagers) which idea they like best and why.  The final conclusion was Diabetic Play was the better option because it was more realistic relaxing, and was a better way to make connections.

REFLECTION:

Over the course of the last few weeks I have been researching and designing a solution to relieving stress for diabetic teenagers. I have discovered some shocking facts that I did not know before. For example, I did not know all the health risks, what they had to document, and the amount of stress they have.  One thing I wish I did more of was taking to more diabetic teens.  

I wanted to start crying when I read about the health risks.  Diabetics are 2-3 times more chance of having heart disease, and 60% chance of dying from heart disease.  They can also suffer from nerve damage, kidney damage, eye damage, skin and mouth conditions, and have complications with pregnancy.  During the empathy stage of this process I felt helpless in their situation and more upset that there is no cure for this disease yet.

I never realized how much work each patient had to track when living with diabetes.  My original problem statement was dealing with a way to track all of the different aspects of the disease like diet and highs and lows.  During my research I realized that tracking isn't the problem because there are so many different ways of tracking.  There are mobil applications an

d booklets to help write down and monitor diet and blood sugar levels.

The last thing that shocked me was the amount of stress each teenager has.  All teens deal with school, work, family, and social life, but adding diabetes throws a curve ball into the situation. Everything is still manageable but there are some cases where health comes first.  

After following the next few steps of the process I came up with the idea of Diabetic Play.  I feel like this idea is a great solution for relieving stress.  I also think there will be a large amount of participation with 13-15 year olds that have no mode of transportation so they can take the YMCA bus to the Y.  I feel like this program is very simple and easy to participate in because it is only a hour and a half after school.  The social part of this project makes me really excited because it is a way for the students to have a therapy session with themselves.  I always feel better when I talk to someone who knows what I am talking about completely. Many of the people that I have talked to and have interviewed said the same thing. 

This project has taught me a lot about disease and what we can do to help.  They go through the same things we do everyday but its just a little bit tougher.  I still can’t believe how strong they all are and I want to help them in every way I can.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1r46CcgLBqhQspVc1VPpWJuTdciLiePtX9NPSj9NApRk/edit?usp=sharing