Change Step: Improving Social Support for Women Veterans Through Participatory Design

Abstract

This thesis discusses a participatory design project that focused on improving social support for women veterans in Indianapolis, Indiana. Using a series of design research methods to capture the voice of local women veterans, and by visually representing the outcomes of each phase of the project, the participant group and design researcher identified the needs of women veterans, considered existing social supports, and co-created a conceptual model for a social support network. This prototype network aims to make finding support easier, reduce overlap in existing social supports, and foster communication between partner support organizations. It is the first step in integrating social support for Indiana women veterans.