Designing collaborative reflection for family co-regulation.

Designers may consider creating situated displays that facilitate joint parent-child reflection and skill-building for ADHD management, as these enhance co-regulation outcomes.

About this paper

The author discusses the use of shared data dashboards and smartwatches to promote family informatics and health behavior awareness.

The paper highlights that these health tracking interfaces typically lack guidance for improving family functioning and health behaviors.

Here are some methods used in this study:

Co-Design Thematic Analysis

Which part of the paper did the design guideline come from?

“Our qualitative analysis of design sessions and artifacts revealed opportunities to better support family co-regulation by promoting collaborative data engagement during shared time while enabling personalized use when alone. These strategies differ from existing family informatics approaches that typically offer the same interaction and data usage for any family member. In the next section, we detail needs for nudging collaborative reflection and discussion for joint use while enabling (...)” (Section 4.1: Findings)

Silva, L. M., Cibrian, F. L., Bonang, C., Bhattacharya, A., Min, A., Monteiro, E. M., Beltran, J. A., Schuck, S., Lakes, K. D., Hayes, G. R., & Epstein, D. A. (2024). Co-Designing Situated Displays for Family Co-Regulation with ADHD Children. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Inspiration and scope

This paper focuses on characteristics of children with ADHD and their families related to family informatics approaches in system designs.

Designing for gamers, focus on connecting them when most are online. Your design context differs from the paper, which caters to cognitive and emotional needs of children with ADHD, focusing on attention management and emotional regulation. Your context is for social and engagement needs of gamers, emphasizing real-time interactions and community building. At the same time, both benefit from high levels of personalization: for children with ADHD, tailored support fits various needs, and for gamers, personalization enhances user experience by meeting preferences and social habits, thus increasing engagement.

Also, they differ as the paper's context involves family dynamics, creating systems for positive and supportive interactions across schedules and emotional states. In contrast, your context aims for peak game-playing times, focusing on real-time communication and synchronization. At the same time, both need high engagement: for ADHD, engaging the family impacts the child’s development, and for gamers, engagement affects retention and satisfaction through interactive features and gamification. This similarity suggests leveraging interactive elements to enhance user experience in both contexts.

Leveraging similarities, consider a platform with customizable features tailored to player preferences and behaviors, using personalized notifications, suggestions for peak times, and interactive elements like in-game events, challenges, or collaborative missions to maintain engagement. This fosters social connections and community among gamers, sustaining engagement.

Your input

  • What: Designing a solution that helps gamers connect with each other whenever majority of the players are online.
  • Who: Gamers.
  • Design stage: Research, Ideation

Understanding users

The following user needs and pain points may apply to your design target as well:

Personalized Guidance for Collaborative Reflection

Designing systems that guide gamers to review and reflect on their gaming interactions and experiences can foster a more connected community. Personalized nudges and ambient reminders can encourage gamers to collaboratively reflect on shared goals, enhancing collective engagement during peak online times.

Individualized Engagement Features

Creating features that cater to individual gamers' preferences, such as personalized data views and tailored reward systems, can boost their motivation and retention. This approach allows gamers to interact with the game and their community data in ways that feel meaningful and rewarding on a personal level.

Design ideas

Consider the following components for your design:

1

Implement personalized notifications for peak online times.

2

Design customizable in-game events and collaborative missions.

3

Include player behavior-driven content suggestions.

Methods for you

Consider the following method(s) used in this paper for your design work:

Co-Design Approach

Using a co-design approach can help gather in-depth insights directly from gamers about their socializing needs and preferences. It's crucial to create an inclusive environment where participants feel empowered to share openly for an effective ideation process.

Thematic Analysis

Applying thematic analysis can reveal common themes and insights from qualitative data gathered during the research phase, facilitating a structured ideation process. Care should be taken to ensure all relevant data is considered to avoid bias and achieve comprehensive insights.

[Figure 1] From this figure, you can understand how designing initial examples and wireframes can help brainstorm and ideate useful app features for gamers to connect better.