Dorsa Charkhian

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Case study · Health & service design

Supporting parents in childcare

What parents need when a child is sick and it is not an emergency.

Role
UX researcher (qualitative) in a graduate team project
Context
2025 · Drexel University · academic concept project
Methods
Semi-structured interviews, empathy and journey mapping, thematic synthesis
Participants
Parents and caregivers
Output
Trust-centered service concepts: nurse hotline, mobile pediatric clinic, companion app
Video
Walkthrough on Vimeo

Context

When a child has a fever at 2am, parents search symptoms, call family and worry. This team project asked what would actually help them in those non-emergency moments. We did not ship a product, but the research with parents was real, and it changed how I think about health technology.

Approach

I designed the interview guide and asked parents to walk me through the last time they worried about their child’s health: real moments, not hypotheticals. We then mapped those stories: where parents went first, what made them trust or distrust what they found, and where they gave up.

Project framing: how parents navigate their children’s health events.
Project framing: understanding how parents navigate their children’s health events.

Finding

Parents did not want more information. They wanted a person who understood their child and could say what to do next.

One parent described searching a rash at 3am and finding dozens of contradictory answers. That is not a navigation problem; it is a trust problem.

Thematic synthesis and early service framing.
Thematic synthesis and early service framing.

Design response

Rather than another symptom checker, the team designed across the care system to connect families with people:

  • A 24/7 hotline to nurses and pediatric professionals, by phone and text
  • Mobile pediatric clinics for underserved urban and rural areas
  • A companion app that prepares parents before a visit
Service concept artifact from synthesis.
Service concept artifact from synthesis.
Prototype of the caregiver path.
Prototype of the caregiver path.
Final presentation of research and concepts.
Final presentation of research and concepts.

Project video

Walkthrough of my research contribution and design rationale.

Looking back through a transition design lens

The project was framed as service design, but looking back, it fits better with transition design (Irwin, 2015): treating a problem as part of a larger system that changes over time, and designing steps toward a desired future rather than a single fix.

  • The problem as a system. Parents’ worry at night is shaped by many connected parts: online search, advice from family, access to nurses and pediatricians, and where a family lives. No single app solves that.
  • Many stakeholders. Parents and caregivers, extended family, nurses and pediatric professionals, clinics, and communities with less access to care.
  • A vision of the future. Care in which families can reach a trusted person when they need one, and in which parents’ own knowledge of their child, in their own language and culture, becomes part of care.
  • Steps, not one solution. The hotline, mobile clinics and companion app work as transition steps toward that vision, at different scales: the family, the neighborhood and the care system.
Transition design lens on non-emergency childcare Three stages from left to right. Today: parents search alone at night, find contradictory answers and lose trust. Transition: nurse hotline, mobile pediatric clinics and a companion app connect families with people. Future vision: a care system where trusted people and culturally fitting tools work together, and parents' own knowledge of their child is part of care. Todaya child is sick at 2amparents search alonecontradictory answersfamily advice, worrya trust problem,not a navigation problem Transition24/7 nurse hotlinemobile pediatric clinicsfor underserved areascompanion app thatprepares parentspeople first, then tools Future visionfamilies reach a trustedperson when they need oneparents’ own knowledgeof their child shapes caretools fit their languageand culture
Retrospective reading of the project through a transition design lens: from today’s system, through the service concepts, toward a longer-term vision of care.

This is a reflection written after the project, not part of the original team brief. It is a lens I want to develop further in my PhD.

2026: from services to a system, and toward AI

In 2026 I returned to this project with a systems view. A parent’s decision sits inside a web of people, tools and access. The places where today’s tools ignore context, device data without the story and translation without culture, are where my PhD question starts.

Parent + childknows what is normalOnline searchExtended familyNurse hotlinePediatrician / clinicHome devicesDaycare / schoolLanguage & cultureInsurance & accesshighlighted: where today’s tools ignore context (device data without the story; translation without culture)
System map of a parent’s non-emergency decision. Highlighted: where today’s tools ignore context.

Next concept: AI that asks before it answers. A reading from a thermometer or wearable is combined with the parent’s own knowledge, in their own language. The AI asks what changed, explains its uncertainty, and routes the family to the right next step, including a person.

Readingthermometer orwearable dataParent’s context“she always runs hotafter vaccines”(own language)AI asks + explainsasks what changed;states its uncertaintyNext stepwatch at home,call a nurse, orgo to a clinic
Concept flow (2026). Not built or evaluated; a starting point for co-design with parents and nurses.

What stayed with me

Sometimes the best design is not a feature but access to the right person. This project is the starting point for my PhD question: how parents’ own knowledge of their child could shape the AI systems they turn to for care.