Helen Sanematsu
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Bringing People and Projects Together In Innovative and Mutually Beneficial Ways
Helen Sanematsu is a designer who wants things to fit. In her research she specializes in bringing together people and projects in innovative and mutually beneficial ways. Her translational research in design builds infrastructure for rich and long lasting engagement between the community and the University. Professor Sanematsu uses design to find the best fit between a person and a project; a problem and a solution; or an opportunity and its potential. Partnering with the University, she uses design methodology to enrich community relationships to better fit community needs. She conducts her translational research primarily with the School of Medicine in community health research.
Prof. Sanematsu developed CLIC*: Communicating Life in Our Community / Communicando la vida en nuestra comunidad, as a way of starting a bi-directional, mutually beneficial dialogue with the University. Initially conceived to assist the School to better engage participants for community based health research, Sanematsu's contribution expands the scope of the project and its ongoing potential to encompass overall community development. By sharing the story of their daily lives with photography, interactive activities, and design projects, both community participants in CLIC* and researchers together start to develop an infrastructure for ongoing, bi-directional and mutually beneficial engagement.
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Item Designing to Serve: Using Design to Translate Research to Practice(Center for Translating Research Into Practice, IU Indianapolis, 2022-08-26) Sanematsu, HelenProfessor Helen Sanematsu's research in service design helps tailor interventions in medicine and community health by focusing on an individual’s real-life actions, environment, thoughts, and emotions. During this discussion, she’ll share examples of her work in service design from collaborations with the Indiana Department of Health, and show how her research and teaching overlap.Item The impact of design on research teams in health services: A case study of the significance of the design artifact for interdisciplinary research and the generation of theoretical and applied lines of inquiry(John Benjamins, 2017-01-01) Sanematsu, Helen; Cripe, Larry D.; Herron School of Art and DesignThe development of patient communication tools in health services research often requires the skills of a designer who will give the tool its final, usable form. However, research teams frequently overlook the demands of implementation and focus instead on the delivery of content to the patient. In the study considered here, shared decision making in cancer treatment research was initiated by an interdisciplinary team without the participation of a designer. Once a designer began working on the team, the benefits she brought to the production of the designed artifact were evident. Design improved the team’s effectiveness through better communication, and allowed for further studies based on application and theory. Researchers responded positively to design and saw the potential for its application to a range of health research.Item FUN WITH FACEBOOK: THE IMPACT OF FOCUS GROUPS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS FOR ADOLESCENT HEALTH(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2011-04-08) Sanematsu, Helen; Woodcox, Stephanie; Rickert, Vaughn I.Abstract Efforts at improving adolescent health through mass communication are frequently undertaken by corporate design firms using traditional design development methods. While such methods may create work that is aesthetically significant, their effect on their intended audience is often overlooked in the process. Left unaddressed are youth media consumption, existing knowledge of health issues, and youth social patterns. By conducting focus groups with local youth, we wanted to learn about 1) attitudes and prior knowledge about the areas identified in Indiana’s Adolescent Health Plan, and 2) consumption of media and preferences in programming Results Knowledge of adolescent health issues Designers learned first-hand youth attitudes toward adolescent health issues and relied on their findings to develop storylines, dialog, and casting decisions. Media consumption While television remains the most popular method of media consumption, social networking sites play a large role in determining what media youth consume. The connection to peers and information sharing enabled by Facebook presented the most potential for effective media development. Design deliverables These data resulted in development of public service announcements (PSAs) and a health survival booklet. PSAs resembled instant communication or ‘chats’ on Facebook and addressed topics of obesity, stress, vehicular safety, and substance abuse. The PSAs provide a familiar visual reference for youth while leveraging its social networking function for emotional impact. The booklets balance practical information with content intended to entertain as well as inform the reader.Item Re-thinking recruitment for community-based research using service design methods: CLIC*: Communicating Life in Our Community/Communicando la vida en nuestra comunidad(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2012-04-13) Sanematsu, HelenIn summer 2011 the IU School of Medicine along with faculty from the Herron School of Art and Design embarked upon a study to learn more about the lives of Latino Adolescents and how to better engage them in research. While Communicating Life in Our Community / Communicando la vida en nuestra comunidad (CLIC) was developed to assist with research project recruitment in the Near West Side, the methods used in the study also point to a way to start a bi-directional, mutually beneficial dialogue between residents of Indianapolis and the School of Medicine. In effect, the CLIC study methods extended the scope of the project and built on its potential to extend to overall community development. Using methodology from design research, participants told the story of their daily lives with photography, video, blogs, and drawings. Through such activities, community participants in CLIC and researchers together started to develop an infrastructure for ongoing, bi-directional and mutually beneficial engagement.Item The Art of Diabetes Prevention Education in Youth(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2014-04-11) Pike, Julie; Smith, Lisa; Clapp, Sarah; Hannon, Tamara S.; Kester, Laura; Lynch, Dustin; Kuhstoss, Courtney; Sanematsu, HelenBackground: The obesity epidemic has led to an increase in type 2 diabetes as well as the precursor condition “prediabetes.” Prediabetes is defined as blood glucose or hemoglobin A1c levels higher than normal, but not high enough for diabetes. Approximately 30% of obese adolescents in the U.S. have prediabetes. Youth with prediabetes have significantly increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Literature demonstrates the significant impact of modest weight loss and physical activity on the prevention or delay of type 2 diabetes. Education on diabetes risk and initiation of lifestyle change is the primary treatment modality. Materials are needed to more effectively educate youth on diabetes progression and risk reduction while using consistent information from evidence-based behavior change methods. Objective: The Youth Diabetes Prevention Clinic is collaborating with the Herron School of Art and Design and a professional design firm to develop an effective tool for communicating the importance of preventing type 2 diabetes while using adolescent-friendly language, visually exciting graphics and relevant messaging. Methods: The team consists of physicians who specialize in adolescent diabetes, a registered dietician, health educators, and graphic design professionals. The project is being completed in four phases: exploration, design, analysis, and refinement. Results: Exploration: The design professionals conducted key personnel interviews and a clinic site visit to determine the appropriate product design. Design: A 16-page booklet was created to incorporate the use of age-appropriate graphics, medical language in lay terms, and cohesive messaging in one package. Analysis: Usability will be measured through user-group testing, key personnel interviews, pre and post knowledge assessments and readiness to change scales. Refinement: Messaging will be revised based on analytical findings. Conclusions: This collaboration exemplifies the benefit of a multidisciplinary approach in the development of patient-centered education materials and provides a framework for others when developing age-specific health communication strategies.Item Health Matters: Reframing Design in Community Health Interventions(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2014-04-11) Hong, Youngbok; Sanematsu, Helen; Cole, Lisa; Zollinger, TerrellGarden on the Go, a signature obesity prevention effort, is Indiana University Health's year round mobile produce delivery program, providing fresh, affordable produce to Indianapolis neighborhoods in need. As the mobile nature of the service is well aligned with context based approaches in Service Design, the design researchers perceived potentials to reconfigure the Garden on the Go service as well as to reframe a health care service model from institution to people based. In partnership with the Garden on the Go community outreach team and the Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University, design researchers from Herron School of Art and Design initiated the "Health Matters" study in 2013. The ultimate objective of the study aims to define 1. How individuals in underserved communities define health and 2. How interventions should be created and deployed to provide appropriate programing that addresses community-centered needs. The project is currently at the recruitment stage, we expect to release final research outcomes in the fall of 2014. This presentation, specifically focusing on the interdisciplinary research process, will address the role of the design researcher/ service designer in interdisciplinary settings and discuss the methodology of intervention design from the disciplinary perspectiveItem Welcoming users to digital libraries: redesigning an open access repository for community engaged health research(Medical Library Association, 2013-05-06) Odell, Jere D.; Sanematsu, Helen; Hardwick, EmilyItem Performing Pregnancy: Young Moms-to-Be and the Public Performance of Self-Esteem and Support(2011-05) Sanematsu, HelenThis paper describes the current development of an interactive community health education piece that targets young, pregnant women using an interactive wall. Foregrounding the pregnant form of the women, and working within the constraints of conventional media, we attempt to reverse the stigma associated with pregnancy in the lower end of the age range through positive and playful messages that give voice to the child-to-be and enlist the help and support of others.Item Codes of the carton: the secret language of milk(AIGA, 1999) Sanematsu, HelenItem Street Vending and Design Thinking: A Provocation(2011) Sernsukskul, Sareena; Sanematsu, HelenThe spontaneity of make/do culture of street vendors in Bangkok is an example of the practice of integrative thinking and contextual praxis that predates and parallels the postmodern integrative and contextual advocacies of Design Thinking. It is materialized as resourcefulness and flexibility in the eclectic creation of vending stalls whether mobile or otherwise, and also as the improvisational intervention of street vendors in public space. It taps into the indigenous cultural condition of Buddhism of ‘an aware mind’ which according to Julia Cameron is the state of creativity. Contemporary designers can learn from the practices of the street vendors in Thailand. As such, Thai street vending reveals a link between Thai culture and Buddhism, and Design Thinking.