Final Student Project
Student Mental Health
In order to figure out how online school affected mental health, we conducted our first survey and sent it out to students to see the overall causes and effects on mental health. We focused on one portion of mental health, being anxiety/stress and came up with the idea that kits can help treat it. We sent out another survey about the contents in the kit meant for the relaxation of students. From the survey data, we created prototypes based on the needs of students.
TEAM 5
Hafeza
Marwa
Meshell
Intisar
Ruchama
Tom
Tenzin
Coach
Marisa Nemcik
Mentor
Ellie Bazurto
ISSUE DEFINITION
What is the issue?
Our issue is that online school has heavily affected mental health, which may be overlooked for many students.
Why is it important?
- The switch from in-person learning to online school has both negatively and positively affected students.
- So the research that’s taking place highlights and addresses specific issues students are facing in the first place.
- How students deal with their mental health now affects how they deal with it in the future.
RESEARCH
Initial Research
We obtained research from a survey we sent out to many students and got about 20 responses. Both quantitative and qualitative questions were asked in order to see data from numerical values, as well as the quality of experiences students faced.
- A large portion of students like human interactions and being physically present in classrooms.
- Many students feel isolated during online school and grades have been going up and down.
- School impacts the amount of sleep people get which can be due to stress and getting school work done.
- People in online school feel less motivated and never really get the chance to leave their room
Protoype Research
We obtained research from a survey about the contents inside the kits meant for the relaxation of students, and we sent out this survey to many students to which we got a variety of responses. We asked and focused more on qualitative questions to get a better idea of students’ wants and experiences. Major points we noticed:
Wants:
- Lavender is the most favored scent
- Blue was the most popular color
- Cushions, fidgets, and stress balls are the three most popular items
- Most people who want plants prefer fake plants
Non-wants
- Aromatherapy
- Many do not want to pick up the kits
- Many prefer no food in their kit
- Some do not like candles
Key Insights
- Casual bikers are not wearing helmets
- Most casual bikers are teens
- Bikers believe the onus on safety should lie on car drivers
- Bike safety extends to more than the biker itself, but also the bike
- Uninjured bike riders have an unrealistic perspective on their own safety
DEFINE
Today, many students are dealing with mental health issues and they have a hard time finding ways to cope with it. The main point of our project is to help students be successful during virtual learning and improve their mental health (specifically stress and anxiety).
Finding ways to help students in our community now may also benefit them in the future, and possibly help them deal with other mental health issues they may be facing.
IDEATION
Products we initially wanted to include in the kit:
- Stress balls
- Fidgets
- Cushions
- Candles
- Plants
- Coloring books
PROTOTYPES
Initial Prototypes
Testing
In order to test our prototype and get feedback we conducted surveys.
The first survey we did was about students’ experiences during online school. We wanted to get a better understanding of what students were going through and the difficulties they were encountering. The responses we got from the survey helped us conduct research and design our first prototype.
The second survey we conducted was about the kits themselves. We got more feedback about the items in the kit and what people liked or didn’t like about them. For example, we got feedback on what colors helped people feel more relaxed so we could include them in the kits. We also learned that most people prefer artificial plants over real plants. As well as that most people didn’t like aroma therapy, so we didn’t include that in our final design.
In the survey students didn’t want these products in their kit
- Aromatherapy
- Food
- Books
- Candles
And students preferred to have their kits delivered
Reiteration
Changes made:
- We decided not to include the products that students stated in the survey they didn’t want
- We also decided instead of choosing between a box and a pouch; we choose to have the pouch inside the box to hold the products
Final Prototype
REFLECTION
- If we could have done anything differently we would find a way to provide variety for students because not everyone finds relaxation in the same items and it would make everyone’s needs met. And we would look more into the budget of the kits.
- We like that in this project we could work together to find a solution to a problem that impacts us in our day to day life and has impacted us for a year.
- We wish that we could test it out on students and find a way for schools to implement the kit into their day-to-day schedules.
NEXT STEPS
- If we could continue this project we would test out the product with users and if all went well we would find an appropriate budget for schools to spend on the resilience kit and find a way for schools to include resilience kits.
- We would talk to students from our schools to see how they feel about the kit and work with organizations that deal with mental health such as teen health center. We would also talk to teachers to see how well students are adapting to the kit.
