$10K Design Challenge for Diabetes Innovations
Calling all cognitive designers… gear up for The 2009 DiabetesMine Design Challenge
Design an innovation to improve the lives of those with diabetes, document (by May 1, 2009) your idea in a two-minute YouTube video or 2-3 page elevator pitch, win $10K (or other prizes), enhance your reputation as a designer and perhaps, help millions of people with diabetes!
Entries will be judged on how well they solve a problem for people with diabetes, clinical efficacy (make sense medically) and aesthetics or look and feel. Rules can be found here.
Don’t let the product focus limit your thinking, this is really about cognition, experience and service.
Innovators retain intellectual property rights. The competition is sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation, endorsed by medgadget.com and supported by IDEO. You can check out more details including entries from last year HERE.
March 16th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Hi Mark!
Janet from MSLOC here. I saw your announcement on the MSLOC online board. The contest seems very interesting, with lots of opportunity to be creative and practice the cognitive design concepts I learned in your class. Although I’m far from being an expert in diabetes, I am very willing to learn more about the disease and the cognition of people who are diagnosed with diabetes. It’s a very meaningful project so I’d love to participate on your team. Please let me know what are next steps. My availability will be a lot more open after this week.
hope all is well!
Janet
March 28th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Hi Mark and Gina,
I’ve started to explore this topic more and wanted to share a few notes below. I do like the idea that Mark you have presented regarding when someone first learns he/she has diabetes and what happens to their self-concept or identity. So in terms of the task at hand, I’m interested in coming up with a solution that helps newly diagnosed diabetics cope with such life-changing moment in their lives. A potential solution could be to create or assign an object or symbol? to create “collective identity” (e.g. diabetic watch to help diabetics identify each other in public). My logic is that this would help them with finding a collective identity and feel a sense of community and hope? (e.g. I’m not alone; there are others like me living with this disease).
Let me know what you think. I’m certainly very open to other ideas. these are just some initial thoughts.
Here are some notes:
FACTS
Type 1 diabetes –-> 5-10% of population
Type 2 diabetes –-> 90-95% of population
Blacks and Latinos are about two times as likely as whites to develop diabetes according to health officials
Experience:
-Date when they were diagnosed is when their lives changed. A date to remember (for kids at least, see “international diabetes quilt” link http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/activities/quilt/pages/) –
-One of themes I got from the quilt –>living life to the fullest, kids highlight their activities/interests
-Hope for a cure
-Enjoyment when kids did their glucose? testing at the same time
-D-camp for kids, “excited to meet other D kids” (sense of belonging)
-One kid recorded # of finger pokes in a year.
-Other kids recorded time to take medicine/do testing.
-All diagnosed (kids and adults)experience emotional and physiological effects (stress, depression, anger, anxiety, other emotions)
Service:
-Healthy foods,
-Increase physical activity/exercise
-medical tools available (pump,etc)
Potential ideas/themes:
-regaining back control lost since diagnosed with diabetes
-create an object that helps diabetics identify each other (e.g. diabetes watch)
March 30th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Hi Mark,
I might be interested in joining your team.
The article about foot amputations is interesting, and does seem to be promising from a Cog Design point of view. Am I correct in my understanding that regular foot inspections would help reduce the need for amputations? The key, of course, would be a cognitively friendly way of getting people to inspect their feet?
Janet, you also pose some good thoughts. I know firsthand that coping with a diagnosis of a chronic illness is tough. For me, it was the feeling of being completely alone in it. It was particularly annoying when people said “It’s going to be ok”, like everything would be better soon. There’s a lot of uncertainty there, no doubt. However, there are probably a number of services addressing that need for community, support, etc. already. We should look into the services the American Diabetes Association (diabetes.org) already offers. This might also give us clues to problems people with diabetes struggle with.
This all reminds me of the theory I investigated for Capstone — Self-Determination Theory. SDT claims, essentially, that individual well-being is supported when three psychological needs are met: the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy is defined here as a “sense of volition”, not necessarily independence. It’s the feeling of being in control of one’s own life. When one is diagnosed with a chronic illness, this sense of control is fleeting. Competence relates to one’s perceptions of how well they can successfully get through life… particularly with type 2 diabetes (which is potentially a consequence of one’s lifestyle)
, perceptions of competence might be shaken. Plus, there’s a whole new series of things one must do to take care of themselves, and one might question their ability to be competent in this. Finally, relatedness means feeling connected to other people/emotional support. As I said, a chronic illness can give people the feeling of being alone. When all three needs are undermined, there is a high likelihood that overall well-being will decrease. As such, there might be something here — or it’s at least one way to view the situation.
SDT researchers have also explored motivation as it relates to these needs, and have done a number of studies on healthcare. Let me look into some of this research to see their approach and if there is anything we can tie to diabetes. Of course I know we also need to look at the mental energy framework and cognitive biases, but this might shed some light on other perspectives about self-regulation.
Thoughts Mark?
Heather
March 30th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Links to some studies:
An overview of how SDT approaches health behavior change –
http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/documents/2008_RyanPatrickDeciWilliams_EHP.pdf
Two studies on diabetes (haven’t read through them yet) –
http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/documents/2007_WilliamsLynchGlasgow_HP.pdf
http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/documents/2004_WilliamsMcGregorZeld.pdf
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Hi there… Consider that if someone is not taking the time to prevent, do we think s/he will take the time to inspect…. foot and limb amputation may be preventable in some cases, if the person takes the time to prevent it by taking care of themselves… for example, stimulating circulation in the limbs…. the lack of circulation is one reason that causes the feet to be at risk of amputation. The person can do something very simple… that is, rub their feet every day and stimulate the skin and underlying muscles… simple, but necessary. And a preventative measure. It costs nothing.
With diabetes, we’re talking about a lifestyle change, this would include constant reminder and repetition so that it becomes part of the person’s routine. This goes beyond the blood tests, insulin injections/pump, diet, and exercise, to include other measures, such as rubbing your feet. There are small things with diabetes that aren’t readily apparent… another one is that diabetics need to limit sun exposure…. strong sunlight burns sugar and can cause a drop in insulin.
It’s actually education and a lifestyle change for the entire family when you get right down to it.
Just some thoughts. I’m not diabetic, but was raised by one… my mother has managed her diabetes for 51 years. She is 91 and was diagnosed at the age of 40. She has been insulin dependent the entire time. She’s a medical miracle! I’ve observed her living with this disease, which will ultimately cause her end, my entire life. Diabetes is a killer, but one can live with it and have a full life for a very long time.
March 29th, 2010 at 7:19 am
diabetes statistics…
I found Cognitive Design ” Blog Archive ” $10K Design Challenge for … on Monday when I was looking for stuff on diabetes statistics. I’m glad to see that not everyone is willing to cut corners and that there are some people who think a bit of eff…
June 9th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Life Insurance…
Thank you for writing about Cognitive Design ” Blog Archive ” $10K Design Challenge for … . As I have read other online views on the same I think the details are well reflected on this.It was a good way of spending evening on Wednesday . I’ll visi…
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:21 am
Life Insurance BC…
My close friend and I had been arguing about a problem related to Cognitive Design ” Blog Archive ” $10K Design Challenge for … ! Now I know that I appeared to be correct. Many thanks for the information you published….