A Sociotechnical Framework For Addressing Stigma and Designing Personalized Digital Health Products

TL;DR

This paper presents a sociotechnical, patient-centered framework for designing personalized digital health interventions that address social stigma, demonstrated through a mixed-method study on chronic pelvic pain patients.

Contribution

It introduces a novel sociotechnical systems-based framework for creating tailored stigma-reduction interventions in healthcare.

Findings

Identified ten design requirements for stigma-sensitive health interventions.

Patients preferred priming and social support strategies.

Framework effectively guided the development of personalized interventions.

Abstract

Stigma, a recognized global barrier to effective disease management, impacts social interactions, resource access, and psychological well-being. In this study, we developed a patient-centered framework for deriving design requirements and interventions for health conditions subject to social stigma. This study introduces a patient-centered framework, grounded in sociotechnical systems theory, to create tailored interventions and design requirements for health conditions influenced by social stigma. We tested this framework through a mixed-method study on chronic pelvic pain patients. Our approach led to the identification of ten design requirements that encompass behavioral and psychological support and strategies for day-to-day living. The findings reveal a preference among CPP patients for priming and social support interventions. This study underscores the value of a systems-based perspective in healthcare, advocating for a nuanced, patient-centered approach that addresses the complex nature of health conditions affected by social stigma. It contributes to the ongoing discourse on integrating STS theory into healthcare frameworks, highlighting the need for targeted strategies to combat the complexities of stigma in patient care.