09-2021
A Participatory Design Format with People Affected by Social Anxiety
The DISA project aimed to collaboratively develop technology-supported strategies that help individuals with social anxiety manage everyday situations more autonomously. Central to the project was a participatory design approach, originally intended to take place in a physical makerspace. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these sessions were restructured into a digitally supported workshop format.
As workshops as social situations are a major challenge for people with social anxiety, a key aspect of the project was to create a participatory format specifically tailored to the specific needs of the participants. The workshops were designed to better understand the needs of people living with social anxiety and to create a space where ideas, needs, and lived experiences could be shared and visualized. Insights gained from these sessions served as a foundation for the development of potential technological interventions.
To support the remote format, participants received a physical Workshop Kit containing materials for all three phases of the workshop. The kit included a structured guidebook and a variety of prototyping materials, enabling participants to express their ideas creatively and tangibly.
The toolkit including the workshop booklet, the cultural probe and prototyping material.
The workshop unfolded in three phases:
Phase 1: Self-Observation Kit
Participants completed a series of exercises designed as cultural probes, aimed at encouraging self-reflection and easing them into the process. Tasks included a personal profile, a fear scale, a creative “anxiety persona” exercise, and the identification of personal coping strategies—referred to as „superpowers.“ The format was designed in a light-hearted and encouraging way that emphasized the competence and self-efficacy of the participants.
The workshop booklet.
Phase 2: Online Workshop
In a collaborative setting, participants developed imaginative concepts for technological tools—“helpers”—that could support them in anxiety-inducing situations. They visualized their ideas as artifacts using the materials provided in the workshop kit. These ideas were intentionally unconstrained by technical feasibility, encouraging open exploration. The results provided valuable insight into users’ needs and preferences.
Prototyping materials used to visualize ideas and concepts.
Phase 3: Reflection
Participants were invited to reflect on their “helper” ideas in daily life over the course of several days, documenting their impressions and observations. This phase was designed to ground abstract ideas in personal context and further inform the research process.
Through this approach, DISA not only gathered qualitative data on the lived experience of social anxiety, but also created a framework for co-designing supportive technologies with—and not just for—those affected. Exemplary workshop results and artifacts can be found in the publication.
The workshop format was developed as part of the ‚Digital Inclusion in the Context of Social Anxiety Disorder (DISA)‘ research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
