Let’s talk about periods: Tackling stigma-driven mental models through a multi-actor approach to improve menstrual education
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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Date
2020
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Master's Programme in Collaborative and Industrial Design
Language
en
Pages
85+5
Series
Abstract
The menstrual cycle is a stigmatised topic, rooted in a complex system of interconnected actors and channels (e.g., social support, media, education). Exposure to menstrual stigma begins in childhood, suppressing or limiting the menstrual cycle from open conversations. The child’s main sources of information (i.e., parents, teachers and peers) hold mental models of menstrual cycle, shaped by their own context, that are blocking knowledge from flowing. Due to this, menstrual education merely grasps a biological explanation and rarely refers to the experience of having a period (e.g., how it affects daily lives), which has serious mental and physical health consequences. Through service design’s multi-actor approach, this thesis proposes to expose the status quo of menstrual education, in order to improve it in southern Finland. This approach enables the achievement of better solutions for common goals by gathering the different actors’ viewpoints. Thus, this project included mothers, teachers and young menstruators, embedded and participant in southern Finland’s households and schools, and captured their insights through semi-structured interviews and design probes, with a total of 12 informants. The data was analyzed both through affinity diagrams and further on with dyadic and network visualizations. At a first stage, I uncovered the status quo of the menstrual education in Finland, confirming it is a silent taboo, and exposes each educator’s stigmadriven mental model, which dictate how they act, individually and as a network. This revealed the barriers for education, being most of them a consequence of the held mental models (e.g., avoidance of the topic, as they were raised doing so). The lack of educational input invites children to resort to reserved sources, such as internet or peers, often resulting in transmission of rumours that paint the period as scary and hurtful. Consequently, stressful and anxious feelings rise in pre-menstruators, that only cease when they first menstruate and face reality. At a second stage, this thesis rethinks and idealizes the menstrual education system. The understanding of the menstrual cycle’s status quo helped clarify where to take action to reach improvements. Thus, I redefined each actors’ role and solution spaces to ensure an holistically better experience to youngsters, soon to be menstruators. As an extension of this, I filled in the solution spaces by proposing a service that aims to deconstruct mental models, empower actors with knowledge and stimulate discussions, through the suitable channels. This thesis extends knowledge on mental models, by exploring their roots and implications, understanding that growing up and being ducated in a context of silent towards menstrual cycle leads to unacknowledged, stigmadriven actions even years later. In parallel, it demonstrates the relevance of service design’s multi-actor perspective in designing for complex systems by showcasing an improved menstrual education scenario and service, achieved through the different actors’ involvement.Description
Supervisor
Čaić, MartinaThesis advisor
Čaić, MartinaArpiainen, Laura
Keywords
menstrual stigma, menstrual education, mental models, service design, multi-actor perspective, menstrual cycle