Holly Strickland
Assistant Professor
Middle Tennessee State University
As women’s reproductive health continues to be a source of mystification and misinformation, there are limited opportunities for women to exchange their health stories in a manner that promotes reflection and dispels misinformation. This study investigates how these stories could be disseminated through a digital product, Care-Stories, to improve women’s health outcomes and education. Following a Consciousness-Raising focus group, I designed Care-Stories to replicate the productive story exchange and relatability present in the CRG. To populate the Care-Stories site with stories, I am continuing to collect women’s reproductive health stories using a survey to learn more about the day-to-day impact of health events. The women’s ability to seek out stories to gain insight and awareness, along with the researcher’s ability to analyze submissions to learn more about women’s health experiences, shows that Care-Stories can serve not only as an intervention but also as a research method. This presentation will examine the research conducted to create Care-Stories, as well as ongoing research to understand how the duality of Care-Stories can lead to better health outcomes for women by increasing health education, normalizing reproductive health topics, and fostering a sense of relatability among women.
This design research is presented at Design Incubation Colloquium 12.3: Virtual Summer on Friday, June 26, 2026.