Family caregiving responsibilities are predominantly shouldered by an individual primary caregiver leading to heightened risk of burnout and exhaustion.
With the growing older adult population, there will also be more informal caregivers assisting friends and family with their healthcare. With the increasing complexity of healthcare, improved caregiver communication skills have the potential to reduce caregiver burden, frustration and improve care recipient health. Many families struggle with the challenges of caregiving, often shouldered by a single primary caregiver, leading to burnout and diminished quality of care for both the caregiver and the elderly individual receiving care.
-
-
The Student Design Awards are the world’s longest-running design competition. Every year, they’ve invited young designers and students from across the globe to apply their skills and creativity to design briefs that focus on the most pressing social and environmental challenges. Since the first prizes were given out 1924, the Student Design Awards have welcomed over 110,000 projects from over 20 countries.
1 in 5 adults in UK is a caregiver. There are 10.6 million carers in the UK today, and 5.7 million estimated caregivers are unpaid in the England and Wales.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
-
Surveys provided quantitative insights into the needs, preferences, and behaviours of caregivers and their families. A total of 126 caregivers completed the survey.
Demographics and User Profiles: Understanding the age, gender, relationship to the elderly, and caregiving experience of users.
Pain Points and Challenges: Identifying common caregiving challenges, such as time management, emotional stress, and lack of resources.
-
Focus groups and online workshops allow for deeper, qualitative insights through interactive discussions
User Stories and Experiences: Gathering detailed, personal caregiving stories that highlight the diverse experiences and challenges faced by caregivers.
Emotional and Social Dynamics: Understanding the emotional impact of caregiving on individuals and families, including feelings of responsibility, guilt, and support.
Caregiving tasks: Identifying common caregiving tasks and their levels of complexity and challenges associated with it.
-
Provides in-depth, one-on-one insights into the caregiving experience. interviews were also conducted with those being cared for and elder members of the family.
Detailed User Needs: Uncovering nuanced needs and expectations from caregivers that may not emerge in surveys or focus groups
Behavioural Patterns: Understanding the daily routines, challenges, and coping mechanisms of caregivers to better tailor Balance's services.
Barriers and Motivations: Identifying barriers to using digital caregiving tools and what motivates caregivers to seek out and adopt new solutions.
KEY INSIGHTS
Family caregiving is undervalued
By undervaluing the experience of family caregivers, valuable insights are lost, making it harder to provide good care and pass on knowledge within families.
Balancing roles is a struggle
Primary caregivers may grapple with feelings of responsibility, duty, and sometimes resentment. They find themselves stretched thin affecting quality of care they can provide.
Patient care and caregiver involvement are seen as separate aspects of care.
Neglecting caregiver self-care ultimately compromises the quality of care provided to the patient.
HYPOTHESIS AND DESIGN DIRECTION
Caregiver bonding through experiential knowledge
Caregivers are capable of developing their own experiential knowledge and strategies which loved ones trust.
Assume everyone wants to help
A group approach helps with anyone who is shirking, as it quickly becomes clear how responsibilities are being shared.
Self care is as important as patient care
Incorporating self-care into caregiver practice fosters resilience and well-being, recognizing that prioritizing personal needs is essential for sustaining quality care provision over time.
Empowering families to provide holistic and sustainable care for their elderly loved ones while nurturing stronger bonds and resilience within the caregiving community.
Introducing Balance
Why?
At Balance, we believe that caregiving extends beyond individual moments and shouldn't be shouldered alone
How?
We've crafted a personalised communication and learning hub that unites family members and friends of all ages.
What?
With the aim to enhance the quality of care for older members by fostering collaboration and support among caregivers.
Balance brings these insights to life through two interconnected interactions: care cards and a digital companion app. Care cards facilitate coordination and planning by delineating caregiving responsibilities based on skills and family roles and relationships The functionality of the care cards is amplified through the Balance app, serving as a digital companion hub. This platform offers caregivers personalized and organized care instructions, facilitates note-taking and milestone tracking for ongoing tasks, and provides a gateway to learning from individuals with lived experiences through an integrated online forum. Additionally, caregivers can access trusted and tailored resources and assistance through a smart recommendation system.
BALANCE ECOSYSTEM
When considering stakeholders Balance has a wide network connecting individual caregivers, to family caregivers, to their communities, to other resources and eventually to professional health services.
The individual benefits from personalised support, reducing caregiver stress, and enhancing overall ability to provide quality care.
The community which may be their family members and friends, others users, NGOs and charities, gain value through knowledge sharing, and a mutual support network.
While on a systemic level, Balance helps promote preventative care for older loved ones, thus improving health and reducing burden on healthcare facilities in the longer run.