Hiding in plain sight: Designing medical devices for adolescents with type 1 diabetes to match their preferences for conspicuity

Adolescents with type 1 diabetes use medical devices that attract attention in public settings. While adolescents have varying experiences with this attention, current medical devices do not allow them control over the conspicuousness of self-management. Accordingly, this research used a participatory design methodology to investigate adolescents’ self-management experiences and preferences regarding conspicuity, and to develop semantic strategies to inform the design of medical devices. Adolescent participants had varied experiences using their medical devices to manage type 1 diabetes in public. Some adolescents were comfortable managing their diabetes in public and disclosing their condition to new people. However, other adolescents preferred to manage their type 1 diabetes in private and feel embarrassed disclosing their diabetes. Four semantic strategies were used to design devices that could appeal to the different preferences of adolescents: to enhance traditional medical devices to make them more beautiful, to personalise the medical device for the user, to disguise the medical device as a non-medical item, and to conceal the medical device from the public. Adolescents displayed different preferences towards these strategies and associated design concepts. As adolescents have a range of experiences and preferences, but little control over the conspicuousness of their medical devices, the study found that these medical devices could be better designed to facilitate adolescents’ agency through catering to their nuanced and differing preferences for conspicuity.