Designing digital health services for gender inclusivity

Digital health services, including online doctor sites and symptom checkers, don’t always include or support the needs of transgender and non-binary users. How can digital product designers do better?

I gave this lightning talk on 23rd March 2016 as part of 300 Seconds Brighton (300secondsbrighton.com)

Transcript

1. ! Designing digital! health services! for gender inclusivity! ! Alex Goluszko @alexandtheweb
2. Male Female
3. “This service is available to male patients only” Response from online doctor / pharmacy site to a user registered as “Gender: Female”
4. NHS sex / gender guidelines for patient health records Patient sex = Sex at birth! Determines how the individual will be treated clinically. Gender = As the patient wishes to portray themselves ! This can be male, female or other http://www.aomrc.org.uk/doc_download/9702-standards-for-the-clinical-structure-and-content-of-patient-records
5. Sex / gender are not! the user story. Gender probably has nothing to do ! with the user’s health need! Sex at birth may have no ! clinical bearing on the user’s health need
6. What’s the ! problem? •  Gender almost always a binary choice •  Gender and sex conflated or confused •  Title / pronoun determined from gender or sex •  Gender or sex determined from title (!!!) •  Gender / sex cannot be edited
7. Why should I! care? These non-inclusive design patterns ! in digital health services can: •  Be particularly stressful, belittling or humiliating •  Waste the user’s time •  Lead to denial of care
8. How ! can we do better? •  Why are we asking about sex or gender? •  Which one are we asking about? •  Can we avoid asking about them altogether?
9. Why ! do we need to ask? Asking about sex for clinical appropriateness or safety? -  Consider if it’s enough to just ask about symptoms or physiology -  Cover use cases that may only apply to trans or intersex users -  Offer “Intersex” as an option Need to know how to address your user? -  Ask for their title and pronouns – not gender -  Offer an inclusive title / pronoun list (e.g. Mx) Still need to ask for gender? Offer a free text or custom option
10. Gender selection on Google+ More inclusive UI patterns
11. NHS Constitution for England says it best. " The NHS provides a comprehensive service... available to all irrespective of gender, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity or marital or civil partnership status. "
12. Huge thanks to Amy Collins Alison Austin ! Alex Goluszko @alexandtheweb
13. Resources "All inclusive design - excluding no gender" Sara Lerén, Senior UX Strategist at inUse AB http://www.slideshare.net/sockersara/all-inclusive-design-excluding-no- gender Design Pattern: Gender and Sex Government Digital Services Design Manual https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-centred-design/resources/ patterns/gender-and-sex.html#section-2 Formulate Information Design - Sex and Gender http://www.formulate.com.au/blog/sex-and-gender/ GP Services and Gender Reassignment - HSCIC Best Procedures Guide http://uktrans.info/attachments/article/60/PDS_NHAIS_chapter7.pdf