From Literature to ReWA: Discussing Reproductive Well-being in HCI

TL;DR

This paper reviews 147 studies across multiple disciplines to map the evolving landscape of reproductive well-being technologies, highlighting gaps in inclusivity and proposing the ReWA framework for more equitable design.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent research to identify thematic waves and gaps, and introduces the ReWA framework to guide inclusive, culturally sensitive reproductive well-being technologies.

Findings

Identified three thematic waves in reproductive well-being research.

Highlighted significant gaps in inclusivity for marginalized groups.

Proposed the ReWA framework with six design orientations.

Abstract

Reproductive well-being is shaped by intersecting cultural, religious, gendered, and political contexts, yet current technologies often reflect narrow, Western-centric assumptions. In this literature review, we synthesize findings from 147 peer-reviewed papers published between 2015 and 2025 across HCI, CSCW and social computing, ICTD, digital and public health, and AI for well-being scholarship to map the evolving reproductive well-being landscape. We identify three thematic waves that focused on early access and education, cultural sensitivity and privacy, and AI integration with policy-aware design, and highlight how technologies support or constrain diverse reproductive experiences. Our analysis reveals critical gaps in inclusivity, with persistent exclusions of men and non-binary users, migrants, and users in the Global South. Additionally, we surfaced the significant absence of literature on the role of stakeholders (e.g., husband and family members, household maids and cleaning helping hands, midwife, etc.) in the reproductive well-being space. Drawing on the findings from the literature, we propose the ReWA framework to support reproductive well-being for all agendas through six design orientations associated with: location, culture, and history; polyvocality and agency; rationality, temporality, distributive roles, and methodology.