Aware

Inspiration

Reproductive healthcare is typically described as "women's health," which does not accurately represent the wide variety of groups that need access to this care. This lack of representation and inclusivity often causes people to miss or avoid vital healthcare due to gender dysphoria or lack of education. We hope to create a more inclusive sexual and reproductive health environment by creating Aware.

What it does

Aware collects basic demographic information from LGBTQIA+ individuals and presents a personalized dashboard with healthcare information such as "things you may not know," a suggested healthcare milestone timeline, inclusive family planning resources, and links to external resources. Interactors can either create an account to save and update their dashboard, or they can download a .pdf of their personalized results.

How we built it

We created a high-fidelity prototype of this solution using Figma, a collaborative UX/UI prototyping tool as well as a supplementary slide deck to explain the vision.

Challenges we ran into

None of us are experts in reproductive health or the nuances that LGBTQIA+ individuals face in healthcare. Before we could decide on a project or solution, we had to collect enough resources to properly understand the language and resources necessary to make this a respectful and useful tool for our audience.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We feel that this tool is well-thought-out and has the potential to be life-changing for a group that is traditionally mistreated and underserved by the healthcare industry. Additionally, we are very proud of our prototype; we feel that we realistically presented the experience of using Aware.

What we learned

This was a learning experience for all of us. We came in with the idea to create a reproductive health project focused on underserved groups, but our research on Saturday quickly led us down an interesting and tragic rabbit hole. As presented in our slide deck, LGBTQIA+ people are incredibly marginalized and ignored in healthcare, despite the fact that they often have distinct and pressing health-related concerns. Additionally, there has been research showing that the LGBTQIA+ community especially in regard to sexual orientation aren't even aware of these care gaps making this an opportunity for such an information distribution system as we created. On top of learning about the care gaps faced by the community, we also learned a great deal about the individuals. We had to ensure that our solution would be accepting and empowering to use, which meant researching the proper language and survey protocol to use while creating this tool. By getting this glimpse into the plight faced by so many LGBTQIA+ people, we will be able to apply our insights not only during this hackathon, but also in our future projects and experiences.

What's next for Aware

We would love to accomplish any of the following:

• partner with a non-profit to bring this tool to life
• create a database of doctors and PCPs that have proven to be inclusive to LGBTQIA+ patients
• create a comprehensive list of various resources related to STD testing, family planning, mental health resources, free telehealth appointments, national resources, and a checklist that patients can print out and bring to an appointment to ensure their needs are properly met

Built With

• figma