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End-of-Life Planning

How might we increase the number of people who engage in end-of-life planning?

INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

How do people’s life circumstances, physical and cognitive health status, and proximity to death inform their likelihood of engaging in EOL planning?

How do awareness, beliefs, demographics, and sociocultural factors affect EOL planning among individuals and their caregivers or healthcare proxies?

CONTEXTUAL LEVEL

EXVACATION

Why Advance Directives

  • Better communication with one’s healthcare team

  • ​Decreased utilization of unwanted intensive treatments

  • Less costly care

  • Opportunity to receive care consistent with preferences 

  • Improved satisfaction and quality of life leading up to death

Role

Researcher, Service & Space Designer

Team
Atchayaa, Evelyn, Isabel, Sneh

During our interactions with people, we recorded some memorable quotes:

SYSTEM LEVEL

How does the location of EOL conversations affect people’s planning experience?

How are informal and formal EOL planning resources distributed to our target audience?

Research methods

What people said?

We aimed to understand the existing barriers regarding the completion of advance directives among adults ages 18+ in order to design a service that ultimately increases their awareness of and participation in this component of EOL planning. We broke the process down at individual, contextual and systemic levels. 

Research goal

EXTRACTION

Data synthesis

The next step was to club the information to different patterns.

Next phase for us was to extract the data we collected so far. We created a board and placed information based on our research goal questions.

Insights

We started to synthesize our data through two tools- Ecosystem map and Stakeholder map.
Ecosystem map covered influencing factors and involved stakeholders from SOCIOCULTURAL, COMMUNITY, FAMILIAL, INDIVIDUAL, ORGANIC SYSTEM

Synthesis: Ecosystem map & Stakeholder map

Synthesis: Ecosystem map & Stakeholder map

EXECUTION

Hypotesis

For our solution we came up with a museum exhibit that consolidates all the existing resources on end of planning and advance directives and that guides individuals (>18 yo) through the stages of awareness, belief, knowledge, and action would increase psychological readiness around—and ultimate completion of—advance directives.

2D Prototype: Initial Concept

Thinking about what our space would look like, We were inspired by circular movement flow for our exhibit and how it symbolizes closure and to ensure smooth transition of audience from one phase to another. The intended flow also metaphorically co-related with concepts like circle of life, so we referred to some already existing museums like Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet, 9/11 museum and Guggenheim museum. We finalized on a inward spiral movement for our exhibit with information placed in a way that it intensifies as one goes further in the spiral. For way finding we also drew inspiration from IKEA’s way finding style of one way flow of movement that creates an experience of guided movement from starting to finish for buyers.

Our initial concept took the form of a spiral shape that mapped well with the cycle of compliance, i.e. awareness, belief, knowledge and action. Basically starting general on the outside and adding layers of specificity as we go inward and ultimately arrive a specific call to action in the center. Originally we thought of the building to be 2-storeyed as to when you reach the very center and you feel all determined to create your advance directive, you get lifted up to another level as a transcendent return to the real world

We tested our initial concept with a low fidelity prototype and invited our interview participants to test it. We received valuable feedbacks from them about the circulation, arrangement and impact of information

3D Prototype: testing

After the initial concept development and feedback session with the users, we modified our design considering several factors:

  • We changed the double-story design to a single-story to accommodate an existing museum or a public building to construct our exhibit in a semi-permanent-based capacity.

  • As the topic is intense, making provision for emergency exits gives the audience a choice to leave if they do not want to continue.

  • We considered including background services like rooms for the technical support team, machine rooms, server rooms, and equipment rooms.

  • Providing decent buffer spaces for the audience to unwind and take a break when needed

  • Interaction spaces to help people connect for support, or more making network for the future

  • Spaces for the audience to play and test the information 

2D Prototype: final iteration and concept development

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