Using design thinking to re-think health promotion: an approach to low-income households

Abstract

The United States is ranked last out of 21 industrialized countries on child health and safety. Obesity has dramatically increased in the past decades, making it one of the most significant, yet most preventable causes of mortality and morbidity in the country. One way to address these problems is through health promotion, which enables people to improve their health instead of just focusing on treatment and cure. Despite increased efforts to tackle this issue in schools, parents are an essential but often overlooked audience, especially in low-income communities. This creative project explored health promotion through the lens of a low-income household, with the purpose of equipping parents with practical ways to promote health behaviors with their children. The use of design thinking helped guide this creative project by uncovering key barriers for parents to promote healthy habits with kids and providing potential solutions to these barriers. Finally, prototypes were created and tested with users to demonstrate these solutions and their potential impact.