Millions of individuals with diabetes use glucose monitors to track blood sugar levels. Research shows that such individuals seek to customize different aspects of their interactions with these devices, including how they engage with, decorate, and wear them. However, it remains challenging to tailor both device form and function to accommodate individual needs. To address this challenge, we introduce GlucoMaker, a system for collaboratively customizing physical design aspects of glucose monitors. Prior to designing GlucoMaker, we conducted a prototyping and focus group study to understand customization preferences and collaboration benefits. GlucoMaker provides individuals with the ability to a) select monitor form and function preferences, b) alter predefined and downloadable digital model files, c) receive feedback on monitor designs from stakeholders, and d) learn technical design aspects. We further demonstrate the versatility and design space of GlucoMaker with three examples of different form and function use cases.

Today’s knowledge workers face cognitively demanding tasks and blurred work-life boundaries amidst rising stress and burnout in the workplace. Holistic approaches to supporting workers, which consider both productivity and well-being, are increasingly important. Taking this holistic approach, we designed an intervention inspired by cognitive behavioral therapy that consists of: (1) using the term “Time Well Spent” (TWS) in place of “productivity”, (2) a mobile self-logging tool for logging activities, feelings, and thoughts at work, and (3) a visualization that guides users to reflect on their data. We ran a 4-week exploratory qualitative comparison in the field with 24 graduate students to examine ourTherapy-inspiredintervention alongside a classicBaselineintervention. Participants who used our intervention often shifted toward a holistic perspective of their primary working hours, which included an increased consideration of breaks and emotions. No such change was seen by those who used theBaselineintervention.

Children Living with Health Complexity (CLHC), whose multiple, severe and chronic conditions differentiate them from those with “complicated” conditions, rely life-long on a vast and ever-shifting array of care providers. Their parent caregivers face a fragmented health care system, disconnected medical records, inter-stakeholder communication barriers and an impenetrable accumulation of documentation – from mundane to life-critical, and largely on paper. They must coordinate care while organizing, tracking and transmitting trends in many health parameters to myriad care providers. We engaged with parent caregivers of CLHC from 12 families through an iterative, 3-phase co-design process to understand their needs for a future digital management system. We share our deepened understanding of their information-centered challenges, a set of principles for how design best-practices need to shift when targeting this acutely high-needs group, and a medium-fidelity prototype user interface which from the ground-up prioritizes caregiver-centered data integration and humanization of the child and family, as well as integrated health record access.

We describe the design and deployment of Calmer, a technology that simulates key aspects of maternal skin-to-skin holding for prematurely born infants: its inspiration, approach, physical design, and introduction into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Maternal skin-to-skin holding can mitigate neonatal pain during medical procedures by as much as 50%, which can improve weight gain, sleep and later development. However, parents cannot always be present, and some infants are too fragile to be held. Interventions targeting this gap could be perceived as supplanting the mother in this intimate role, exposing her to depression and endangering her maternal bond. Over 10 years, we iteratively developed Calmer and demonstrated infant health benefit in a randomized clinical trial. Here, we report and reflect on pursuing this goal in a socially and technologically complex context: constraints, strategies, features, reception of the device, and surprises, such as leading to mothers feeling channeled rather than replaced.