2021
Goal
To redesign the mobile telepsychiatric service and unit in order to give communities in Tamil Nadu's distant rural areas with affordable, accessible mental health care support systems.
Responsibilities
Project Duration: 3 months
My role:
I was in charge of the whole project, from concept to proposal pitch, with the end result being a product and service redesign.
Mentor: Ollie Cotsaftis, Lecturer at RMIT University School of Design
Problem
"How can tele-psychiatric services be made available to the rural population of India?"
Brief
The project seeks to redesign a mobile tele psychiatry clinic for the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF India) to enhance the quality and efficiency of the service provided. With just 4000 practising psychiatrists, India is trying to serve 1.3 billion people and nearly 70% of those psychiatrists are in urban areas and major cities. 85% of the patients in rural areas have no access to mental healthcare support systems. The genesis of this project is the STEP initiative aimed to provide access to mental healthcare available in the urban zones to the rural parts of India through telemedicine. This project employs a salutogenic approach towards designing the mobile clinic concerning the problems identified from the existing. The project focuses on making the design replicable for extending the service throughout the country to suit the needs based on the geographical locations while retaining simplicity and low cost.
Approach
The goal was to remodel the mobile unit utilising the salutogenic method for improved user experience and efficiency by resolving difficulties with the present structure. Prior to reaching this stage, primary research began with online discussions with the STEP team, which resulted in a core understanding of the thinking process that occurred during the project's conception in 2013.
Phase 1:
Initial efforts included desk research, system analysis and mapping, end-user experience mapping via interviews, and identifying significant pain points in the present system, as well as establishing the core and secondary project goals.
Phase 2:
Objectives brainstorming, co-creation with the existing team on the present system, and the mobile telepsychiatry unit. Reiterating potential improvements and testing the strategy throughout the user experience.
Phase 3:
System architecture and mobile unit design Video prototypes and a framework for service design briefing and pitch presentation
Concluding thoughts
I worked on this project at the height of the pandemic lockdown, when the world recognised the necessity of the value of the mental health support networks in place. My earliest attempts were focused on establishing strategies for raising awareness and toolkits to help retrospect and introspect about one's mental health situation. Working closely with the SCARF team, the need for a rebuilt transportable unit appeared to be impending. Step 2.0 was my initial step toward future work on mental health systems and tools from diverse perspectives.
