The project
Commissioned by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), with partners including the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), St. Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College (SPHMMC), and University of Michigan (UM), and funded by the Gates Foundation, the Innovations in Counseling and Follow-up (ICAF) project set out to improve how healthcare providers help women manage the side effects of hormonal contraceptives.
Hormonal contraceptive methods often cause menstrual bleeding changes, which many women find undesirable. Bleeding changes are one of the leading causes of contraceptive discontinuation and concern around infertility is a well-documented deterrent to contraceptive use. High quality contraceptive counseling and follow-up care can address women's concerns around side effects and ensure they are able to use contraceptives aligned with their preferences. The Innovations in Counseling and Follow-up (ICAF) project aims to develop informed interventions to improve contraceptive counseling and follow-up care for the navigation of bleeding-related and other side effects. Derz was tasked with gathering insights on women's contraceptive concerns and designing innovative and improved counseling and follow-up approaches and tools to meet this objective.
The process
A Human-Centered Design approach was used to build on findings from initial formative research. The process lasted 18 months and included the following activities:
- Insight gathering: Qualitative interviews with women and healthcare providers at public facilities in Addis Ababa and Nairobi
- Synthesis: Findings synthesized using journey maps, personas, storytelling, and insight statements
- Prototyping: Two rounds of prototype testing with women and healthcare providers in both countries
- Co-creation: All-partner collaborative working sessions, both in-person and remote, involving researchers, designers, and funders from Ethiopia, Kenya, and the United States
- Community engagement: Six community design workshops held at critical stages of the process across both countries
The project produced a comprehensive package of design deliverables, now in pilot phase with the first pilot in Addis Ababa:
- Personas articulating the needs of new and repeat contraceptive users
- Journey maps for public health facility users
- Rough prototypes that aim to test how we might enhance counseling and follow-up services
- Final solutions across the full service journey
- Reports at key stages: insight gathering, prototype testing, and the final intervention package
Derz handed over the final design to the piloting team. The pilot is currently underway in Addis Ababa.