Childbirth can bring intense and complicated emotional and physical changes, often leaving new parents vulnerable to mental health challenges. Despite the known risks, postpartum mental health remains underrepresented in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and existing digital solutions rarely address the real-life complexities faced by new families. This thesis explores how families manage mental health struggles after childbirth, and investigates how digital technologies can meaningfully support them through this period.
Grounded in Human-Centered Design and informed by Feminist HCI values, the study adopts a qualitative approach through an anonymous online survey, collecting individual experience reports from individuals with direct experience of childbirth across five countries. Through a Reflexive Thematic Analysis four key themes were developed: the embodied process of healing, the emotional burden of unmet expectations, the importance of supportive communities, and the conflict between personal needs and societal pressures.
These insights informed the design of a mid-fidelity prototype of a postpartum support app, focused on facilitating emotional reflection, enabling concrete support requests, and strengthening personal networks. The design was iteratively refined through expert evaluation, a cognitive walkthrough, heuristic analysis, and accessibility audit.
By addressing both practical and emotional needs, this work contributes a user-informed perspective to postpartum technology design, and demonstrates how HCI can play a critical role in fostering care, agency, and wellbeing in early parenthood.
Childbirth can bring intense and complicated emotional and physical changes, often leaving new parents vulnerable to mental health challenges. Despite the known risks, postpartum mental health remains underrepresented in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and existing digital solutions rarely address the real-life complexities faced by new families. This thesis explores how families manage mental health struggles after childbirth, and investigates how digital technologies can meaningfully support them through this period.
Grounded in Human-Centered Design and informed by Feminist HCI values, the study adopts a qualitative approach through an anonymous online survey, collecting individual experience reports from individuals with direct experience of childbirth across five countries. Through a Reflexive Thematic Analysis four key themes were developed: the embodied process of healing, the emotional burden of unmet expectations, the importance of supportive communities, and the conflict between personal needs and societal pressures.
These insights informed the design of a mid-fidelity prototype of a postpartum support app, focused on facilitating emotional reflection, enabling concrete support requests, and strengthening personal networks. The design was iteratively refined through expert evaluation, a cognitive walkthrough, heuristic analysis, and accessibility audit.
By addressing both practical and emotional needs, this work contributes a user-informed perspective to postpartum technology design, and demonstrates how HCI can play a critical role in fostering care, agency, and wellbeing in early parenthood. Read More
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