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Background Aim

“It takes a village to raise a child” is a popular proverb originating from The aim of this research project is to find an interaction design

Africa and is echoed throughout the world, but in recent years, many solution to connect postpartum parents with each other and to

view parenting as private concern. It could be argued that it doesn’t their community to provide peer support to improve emotional

take a village to raise a child, but no one would dispute that having wellbeing.

a village, or close support network available can help alleviate the

pressures that comes with parenting. Unfortunately, many factors are

contributing to today’s lack of social connectedness. A recent survey Objectives

discovered that 77 percent of Irish mothers experience feelings of

loneliness after having a child.
• To identify and understand the impact of having a baby on a

parents mental and emotional well-being.
This research aims to understand why people feel lonely during the
• To foster a sense of connection among parents and their
transition to parenthood. It will explore the impact of having a child
community.
and to understand how a person’s role changes to adapt to the
• To enhance the postpartum experience using a design
responsibility. It will investigate how parents feel about their support
thinking approach to design and develop an intuitive, usable
network and discover how parents are connecting and engaging with
and accessible solution for parents.
their peers, community and other support services. It will explore the

benefits of face to face interactions and how it might strengthen the

emotional wellbeing of parents.

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