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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.