Project Brief
Studying the current Adoption scenario in India and analyzing the difficulties faced by various entities with in the domain of Adoption (Adoption Centers, Adoptive Parents, Adoptees)
The following was a classroom project which was was carried out between December 2019 and February 2020.
It was carried out with collaboration with Chahat Premprakashi
5D Design Process
01. Discover
Desk Study
Contextual Inquiry
Interviews & Surveys
Competitive Analysis
02. Define
Persona
Problem Statement
03. Design
Ideations
Final Concept
Moodboard, Logo
Information Architecture
04. Develop
Low Fidelity Wireframes
Style Guide
High Fidelity Wireframes
05. Deliver
User Testing
Future Scope
Discover
In recent years, the stigma around adoption in India has reduced and parents have become more open to the idea of adoption even without issues of medical infertility. This increased awareness of the concept has accounted for about 4000 adoptions taking place every year. In view of the current scenario,
Objective of the study:
The objective of the study was to comprehend the problems faced by Prospective Adoptive Parents with respect to adoption preparation and to propose a possible intervention that caters to their needs.
Interviews & Survey
In the study conducted, we interviewed 17 Adoptive and Prospective Adoptive Parents, 5 Specialized Adoption Agencies and 4 Adoption Counselors in Pune and Mumbai in the month of December-January, 2020. The objectives of this study were elaborated and due consent was taken before their participation in the study
58.8%
Percentage of parents who did not receive any counselling services and weren’t happy with services provided
64.4%
Percentage of parents who preferred adopting a healthy child, in the entire procedure.
76.4%
Percentage of parents who preferred adopting a girl child, in the entire procedure.
How long did it take for the parents to complete the procedure?
Contextual Inquiry
Contextual inquiry is a semi-structured interview method to obtain information about the context of use, where users are first asked a set of standard questions and then observed and questioned while they work in their own environments.
Fig 1, Flow Model
The above diagram represents the flow model from the perspective of Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs). All individuals and organizations that help the parent adopt the child are included in
With flow model, the other models like Sequence Model, Artifact Model, Physical Model and Cultural Models were also made.
Competitive Analysis
We carried out competitive analysis to analyse the different competitors and evaluate them on certain basis such as Primary, Secondary features and it’s functionality which are of the existing application/solutions for adoption and preparing parents.
Not many applications were able to help parents in experiencing parenting realistically
Availability of essential resources like videos and tutorials, but very rare instances of evaluating the understanding of parents from these resources
There was a need for a stronger adoption
preparation system that increases motivation and
engages with the users
Define
Persona
Key Insights
01
Number of cases of disruption and maladjustment have been on rise.
02
Preparation of adoption for the parents was a major obstacle as none was given from the centers.
03
Sensitizing and creating awareness about adoption could help reduce the cases of disruption
04
Difficulty for parents to connect with parents who've previously adopted and counselors who can help them
Problem Statement
To design an adoption preparation system that reduces the number of adoption disruptions and enhances efficiency of adoption preparation for parents
Design
Ideation
Design Concept 1:
Application that connects all entities involved in the process, giving parents access to preparatory resources
Design Concept 2:
Application designed for social worker which can be used during Home Study
Design Concept 3:
Game designed for parents helps in evaluating their preparedness with respect to other parents
Design Concept 4:
A VR Based games that will allow parents to answer questions while experiencing adoption preparation
Final Concept
‘AASRA - Assurance and Adoptive Support for Reliable Adopters’ an
immersive Adoption Preparation System
that attempts to provide parents with a more realistic experience of challenges post-adoption.
System Architecture
Information Architecture
Develop
Wireframes
Style Sheet
High Fidelity Screens
ONBOARDING SCREENS
Onboarding screens help in welcoming the users to the Aasra app and explaining the basic features of the application so that users are familiar and can
easily discover and navigate the features.
LOGIN
Aasra, the app would only be
accessible to registered parents
GAME
The game on the mobile app
would include a simple interface
indicating the situation with
questions and lifelines
Deliver
User Feedback
HOME
The home page consists of quick
resources like links and videos to
keep you update
CONNECT
The app helps you connect with
all entities in the domain of
adoption from the agencies to the support groups
PREPARATION
Preparation page allows parents to see your score on the leader-board and continue playing the game to enhance your score
REMINDERS
Forgetting about important deadlines has been a recurring issue in the process. The app provides you with a proper calendar with set reminder
Parents appreciated the idea and were interested in seeing it developed further. Recalling their adoption experience and the obstacles they faced, they spoke about using this solution to avoid those challenging situations
They appreciated that the system would allow them to immersively experience challenging parenting situations.
They mentioned that the adaptation to a virtual reality game could be difficult for a few parents at first
Incorporating the feedback
The initial idea was to keep the VR game in the app as it would it make it easier for parents to revisit their training from the home study, but based on the feedback we decided to start the preparation process with the help of the application first so as to make the transition to VR smoother over the years.
While few parents enjoyed the idea of using VR to immersively experience adoption preparation they did mention a possibility of little friction from few parents at first who might not be familiar with the technology.
Thus, we decided to move the VR game into the future scope of this project.
Future Scope
The VR Game
The VR game would be used during the Home Study Report by the social worker to ensure that the parents are prepared to join the process of adoption.
In the game parents would be required to answer questions in a realistic simulation through Virtual Reality.
This would also help parents pave their own paths and feel in control of their learning while ensuring that the learning is impactful and long lasting
User Testing
At the moment, full access to the best of VR equipment might be a challenge for few agencies. However, the solution we suggest can be implemented at different levels starting with a basic Cardboard VR headset.
As of now the next immediate step is to conduct a large scale user testing with the essential equipment and prototype to confirm the effectiveness of the solution in the future.
Conclusion
We believe that AASRA could provide parents with a more realistic understanding of possible challenges that might arise post completion of adoption.
It would also make the preparatory system independent to a certain extent, thus ensuring every parent goes through the essential training without over burdening the Adoption agencies
Furthermore with the increasing time taken to finish the adoption process, using a VR based game and a mobile game helps make the learning more impactful, experiential and long lasting
Final Note
This particular classroom project was one of the most extensive one that I got a chance to work on. The domain we were working on was sensitive, so user research was difficult and had to look out for users who would be comfortable talking to us. We attempted talking to different entities involved during the procedure like the centers, parents, support groups and counselors. We had few point of contacts initially and further users kept referring us to more people so we could expand our study, this entire process was new for us. Working on this domain was different and designing for same was new different too, talking to the users helped us in better understanding of their needs. We have attempted in introducing technology in order to meet with the user needs which helped us understand the requirements and technicalities of it. Both of us were equally attached to the project which made the entire process a learning journey.
We were glad we could work on this project and cannot thank enough to all the Parents, Adoption centers, Adoption counselors, Support groups who took out time and helped us in getting a better understanding of the domain and user needs. Working with someone who also is equally invested makes the entire process easier and I was lucky enough that I could with someone like that, so lastly I would like to thank my partner and also our mentor (HoD) for her constant support.
Thank you