Empowering Married Working Indian Women to
Achieve Mental Balance in day to day life
Indian married working women find it difficult to manage stress in their daily life. This thesis explores the reasons behind it, understands the support ecosystems available to them and how they can manage stress in daily life with a service that is backed by proven methodologies. This service leverages their current support network to help them manage stress. The stakeholders in their current support network are empowered with the philosophy of 'Measure, Monitor and Motivate' by integrating a wearable device, a mobile app and a companion.
National Mental Health Survey places the availability of psychiatrists in India at 0.75 per 100,000 population. The desirable number is anything above 3 psychiatrists per 100,000 population.
Keeping the above numbers in mind, the aim of this service is to create a first line of defense against common mental disorders like stress and anxiety. A community and a network of companions in India easily accessible to Indian women and anyone who needs help with mental wellbeing.
A day in a life
3 sessions were conducted to brainstorm 3 potential directions:
1. Stress management at family level
2. Stress management on a personal level
3. Strengthening relationship between Shalini and her husband.
1. Stress management at family level
2. Stress management on a personal level
3. Strengthening relationship between Shalini and her husband.
Important themes emerged from analyzing and grouping of ideas:
1. A physical artifact for managing stress
2. A mobile app based solution for stress care coaching (connect with a human coach)
3. A digital guru: providing stressed women teachings from a guru (no human coach involved)
4. Stress management on a community level
These ideas were further developed and discussed with the same users who were interviewed during the research phase. Their feedback pointed towards the idea of having a stress coach or a non-judgmental person to talk to about stress related problems.
1. A physical artifact for managing stress
2. A mobile app based solution for stress care coaching (connect with a human coach)
3. A digital guru: providing stressed women teachings from a guru (no human coach involved)
4. Stress management on a community level
These ideas were further developed and discussed with the same users who were interviewed during the research phase. Their feedback pointed towards the idea of having a stress coach or a non-judgmental person to talk to about stress related problems.
