Veda: Menstrual Health Education App
Helping Indian parents make their children's menarche
(First periods) a less stressful and more supportive phase of life.
VEDA
Role:
Secondary research
Primary Research: Focus Group Study
Affinity mapping
Prototyping and Wireframing
Team: Sarvani Polisetty, Ananya Singh, Namrata Dharmadhikari, Bita Manoucheri, Sina Basiri
Duration:
Nov - Dec 2024 (4 weeks)
71%
of girls in India remain unaware of menstruation until menarche.
23 million girls drop out of school annually due to a lack of proper menstrual hygiene management facilities.
Krishnan, M. (2022) India: Menstruation taboos are forcing girls out of school – DW – 10/05/2022, dw.com. Available at: https://www.dw.com/en/india-menstruation-taboos/a-63341007 (Accessed: 09 December 2024).
Mother-daughter discussions about menstruation improve preparedness and foster positive attitudes, while silencing stigma
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine (no date) Menstrual hygiene: How hygienic is the adolescent girl? : Indian Journal of Community Medicine, LWW.
Stigma around menstruation causes anxiety and low self-esteem, underlining the need for supportive communication and education.
Busting myths and misconceptions around menstruation (2022) UNICEF India.
We spoke to some real women too
To understand more about a sensitive topics like this we found it important to create a safe space for our participants to feel comfortable and express their unfiltered thoughts.
We conducted a focus group study, spoke to 6 women from India and asked to reflect on topics around their first period experiences. We then condensed all the insights through affinity mapping.
What did we get from this?
Inadequate period knowledge
Stigma/taboo related to Periods
Schools provided rudimentary information
Unable to discuss about periods
Religious Stigma
Men were rarely involved
Lack of education amongst younger girls and mothers
Due to Stigma and Taboo around periods, girls are not taught about menstruation at a younger age, increasing their anxiety and shock.
We decided to go head with this focus area with the feedback we received from a design critique session
50 Sketches Ideation
We decided to shift the perspective and focus on the other potential target audience in our selected focus area:
The Mother
“I know what to teach but sometimes I do not know how to explain it”
Concept Sketches
Concept Evaluation
What did the mother think of the idea
A good idea since a lot of mothers find new ways to converse with their daughters about periods
User would prefer a similar app for sex education
She would appreciate more guidance on the anatomy and normal VS abnormal
The Mother preferred the community feature better since she will be able to discuss her current experience
Add in more visuals to make the content more engaging
Introducing
VEDA
An app for parents to facilitate menstrual and sexual health conversations with their children
Prompts the parents topics to speak about, in a sequence which makes the most sense
Allows them to share their experiences to add a personal touch and to foster a safe environment
Provides them with visual aids to explain topics better
How might your body change?
Introducing Change
Pause
Next
Make it more relatable
Lessons
Forum
Forum
Ask your child if they know anyone who went through it already.
Share experience about your first period. How did you feel when it happened?
How might your body change?
Introducing Change
Pause
Next
Define menstruation in simple terms
You can Quote: “Periods are when a little bit of blood comes out of your body every month as part of growing up."
Explain why it happens
Available Resources
Read from a script
Lessons
Forum
Forum
Let’s the parent customize the lesson plan based on their child’s information
Hi Puja, Which one applies to you?
You can choose multiple
I am a parent. I want to learn how to educate my child
I am here to learn about menstrual health.
I am an expert. I want to teach about menstrual health.
Next
Back
1
2
3
Please enter your child’s details
Next
1
2
3
Childs Age
9
Biological Sex
Male
Female
Has the child menstruated yet?
Yes
No
Back
Select topics you wish to educate your child about
Bodies and Anatomy
Menstruation
Hormones
Menstrual Products
Hygiene
Normal vs Abnormal
Next
1
2
3
Back
Allows the parent to participate in community discussions.
Peer learning and experience sharing
Welcome Puja
Search topics, speakers, keywords
Recommended for you
Start a Thread
Community to share resources
If you have any resources, please add here
by Asha Garg
45 Comments
30 Contrinuters
Mothers, how did you give “the talk”
My daughter is turning 10 next month and I nee...
by Milana Singh
45 Comments
30 Contrinuters
What not to do while addressing periods.
Let’s learn from each other’s mistakes and find...
by Aditi Chaudhary
45 Comments
30 Contrinuters
How did you learn about periods?
Let’s learn from each other’s mistakes and find...
by Sanya Mehta
45 Comments
30 Contrinuters
Lessons
Forum
Forum
User22234
“I made it interesting for my daughter when I gave her a diary of my experiences written in it.”
Reply
56 comments
2k likes
User2462846
What details did you incorporate? Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Morbi penatibus consequat nunc morbi cras dictumst aliquam hendrerit enim.
Reply
User2462846
What details did you incorporate? Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Morbi penatibus consequat nunc morbi cras dictumst aliquam hendrerit enim.
Reply
Mothers, how did you give “the talk”
My daughter is turning 10 next month and I need some examples on how to teach her about periods.
by Asha Garg
45 Comments
30 Contributers
Lessons
Forum
Forum
Aligns the parent with the cause
Makes our goal clearer
Making users feel that their contribution would make an impact
We need your help to bring that change
We need your help to bring that change
Skip
Your partner in fostering healthy and safe menstrual conversations
VEDA
50%
of Indian adolescent girls follow unsatisfactory menstrual hygiene practices
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