Evolving Bonds Through Change
Exploring Mother-Child Care Relationship During the College Transition
Brief
Evolving Bonds Through Change: Exploring Mother-Child Care Relationship During the College Transition is a design research project that takes a look at the transformation of parents and their young adult children (ages 18 to 28) as they navigate increased physical distance and shifting dynamics as adult children leave for college outside of their home city.
Role
Team
Process
How might we…
Additional: Seeking Understanding…
What is the mother's perspective on the father’s care?
Learning a Mother’s Perspective
Research Insights
These insights took us many iterations, interviews, and a lot of time researching to formulate points that encapsulate the many phases of deep mother-child relationship during the college transition and currently how they are navigate the change
Gathering Participants
To start off this project, as 21-22 year old college students without children, we needed to see from the other side. We had to learn what it meant to a parent. So, we sent out a short Google survey to social circle of parents we knew. We received 12 respondents (1 father).
From our survey, we were able to gather 6 mothers interested in meeting with us to complete a interview.
Interviews
Forming the study guide for these 45 minute interviews was key for us to gather the necessary information for our project. We decided not only did we have to learn about the mother-child relationship during the college transition, but before and after, so we could uncover the differences between the two. This would allow us to see what lacks, benefits, and changes in the current.
Session Breakdown
Interviews were conducted by the researcher that knew the participant or provided an objective space for answers.
“I realized that I didn’t have to only be mom but that I could be a friend.”
– Trinity J (P2)
We had to approach with caution, an open heart, and listening ears
Talking about the college transition is not easy for mothers. A few cried. We saw in real time the emotions that they experienced from the transition as they recalled helping their child move out, seeing them grow up, and navigating the change currently. The raw emotions that came out during these interviews revealed the undeniable bond that was present and being stretched into many different avenues to maintained as physical distance increased.
“ I was extremely anxious about being an empty-nester...I thought life was going to become boring”
- Sherry O. (P5)
From Research to Design Concepts
From the research conducted and the insights formulated, we designed 16 concepts that supported our problem area.
Getting Feedback from participants
We selected 5 focused concepts to share with our participants. During these feedback sessions, we also discussed the mother’s perception of her partner’s relationship with their child and how he would react to these concepts.
Conclusion
Key Take Aways & Learnings
1
Interviews are key to uncovering unique perspectives that will open a designers mind to creating productive concepts
2
As we learn and progress, we should review your research and data often, there may be points missed now that you have a new lens
3
Participants are sharing their vulnerable stories and valuable time, be conscious of this while interviewing
We had a lot of twists and turns navigating how we wanted to explore this complex topic and from what angles we wanted to focus on the most. We both deeply connected to this subject matter and found the time spent talking to participants fun and meaningful.
We acknowledge the lack of scale to this short project and if continued, would expand the number of participants and scope of the interviews. Our findings are also limited and representative of a smaller population of mothers and, despite their differences from one another and diversity, due of the scale can’t fully represent the population. Our participants perceptions and experiences are theirs and not meant to generalize the overall population.
If we continued this research
We would like to talk to fathers as well to gain their perspective and if possible compare it to the mothers perspective to see what aligns and what doesn’t.
We might even explore the child's perspective to gain more insights into the differences in perception and communication.