Women comprise nearly half of the immigrant population worldwide and are susceptible to a wider range of health challenges compared to immigrant men. We present the findings of four participatory design sessions with immigrant women from the Caribbean to identify health and wellness challenges they faced and to conceptualize technologies to help them manage these issues. Stress, dietary challenges (specifically obesity), mental health, and domestic abuse, as identified by the women, form the focal themes for the design sessions. Their design approaches emphasized rebuilding the support structure, reducing stressors through entertainment and relaxation and encouraging positive gradational lifestyle changes. In conceiving health and wellness technologies for immigrant women, our work highlights opportunities for HCI to consider the role of others (and who benefits) and to reflect on the role of design and the underlying values and themes designs encompass. Finally, we emphasize how the technologies conceived by these women support rather than replace social solutions to the health and wellness challenges faced by these and other immigrant women.

As kids encounter food advertisements, it is important that they be able to critically evaluate the message's claims, the healthiness of the promoted product and their desire for it. To explore how technology might help kids develop these skills, we created an online forum called TalkBack that encourages children to critically analyze the messaging in food ads and their attitudes towards marketed foods. We evaluated TalkBack with twenty-eight middle school students in a summer camp program. We discuss how participants appeared to project and protect their sense of self through their interaction with TalkBack. We also describe the limited analytic depth of their forum contributions and suggest directions for HCI research that attempts to encourage critical thinking and health promotion in adolescents.