Developing and Evaluating a Modified Design Sprint Method to Include Women with GDM and Healthcare Professionals in the Design of eHealth

Self-management of Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is one of the important health issues of the 21 century. Various technology solutions have been developed but most of these have been abandoned, not being used widely or only being evaluated at a prototype level. The aim of this PhD is to explore and understand the use and design of innovative state of the art technologies to help women with the self-management of GDM. The research questions to be addressed are: (1) How can women with GDM be included in the design of a GDM self-management system? (2) Can the concept of a design sprint be optimised to include women with GDM along with healthcare professionals in the design process? (3) What are the perceptions of women with GDM regarding their role in the design of technology? (4) What are the perceptions of women with GDM regarding their potential use of the GDM self-management system? Research Approach: A systematic literature review was conducted to explore the views of healthcare professionals, pregnant women with GDM and postpartum women, with regard to the barriers and facilitators of using eHealth to support GDM self-management. The findings of this systematic literature review has identified the need to develop strategies and methods to include women with GDM in the design of digital GDM self-management systems. The research will use an action research methodology (using focus groups, observation and task analysis, etc.) to adapt and evaluate aspects of Agile Design Methods to include all stakeholders in the design of digital eHealth. Novelty: This PhD lies in the HCI field of Computing. The novelty of this project is to involve all stakeholders, e.g. women with GDM and healthcare professionals actively in the 'design process' of a digital GDM self-management system from the 'brain storming' stage to the evaluation of prototypes. The PhD will develop and evaluate design methodologies which will support the active inclusion of these stakeholders in order to increase the usability and functionality of digital self-management systems.