Towards a technology for caregivers' emotional expression and self-reflection

Abstract

The care of individuals with cancer is a difficult and draining task. The care responsibility is in many cases, taken over by a family member, usually the mother in the case of pediatric cancer. We studied the needs of these mothers, related to their particular situation: they live in a community of caregivers, while their families are in distant cities and they must deal with the stress of being healthcare providers and emotional support to their children. This paper presents a qualitative study to understand emotional wellbeing in caregivers, and the development and evaluation of Ohana , a tangible user interface to allow caregivers to easily express their emotions to their families and physicians, and reflect on their emotional-wellbeing and needs. The Ohana System was reported to be easy to use, and easy to learn, and we believe it could be integrated into the lives of the interviewed mothers and their children. This work will be continued by improving the interface, adding communication functionality, and further evaluation. © Springer International Publishing 2013.