Project Motivation
Domestic abuse among young people is a global issue and a pressing worldwide concern.
The WHO estimates that one in three women is affected by violence, especially violence by intimate partners, making younger women the most vulnerable.
Therefore, addressing domestic abuse and raising awareness is of great importance in order to prevent and help women that are victims of abuse or could potentially be.
Project duration:
4 weeks
Tools:
My approach
My Role:
Sole UX Researcher - responsible for the entire research process.
Project manager
Google Docs
Miro
Figjam
Typeform
Zoom
Discover
User Research Plan
Once I have defined the brief for the project I started by writing the user research plan in order to work with structure, whilst performing secondary research to have a better understanding of the victims of partner abuse scenario as well as the statistics to help me define my objectives and recruitment criteria.
Secondary Research
I have read several articles and previous case studies, moreover I watched the TED Talk (Crazy Love by Leslie Morgan Steiner).
My main findings from the secondary research were:
The most common age when intimate partner violence is first experienced by women is age 18–24 and domestic violence is considered a gendered crime.
Abusive relationships always involve an imbalance of power and control. In 2012, the UK government changed the official definition of domestic violence to enhance safety for young women (Home Office, 2012).
Violence against women is estimated to cost some countries up to 3.7% of their GDP, more than double what most governments spend on education.
In the USA — women 16–24 are 3 x as likely to be domestic violence victims and over 500 hundred women of this age are killed every year by abusive partners.
Some of the reasons women stay in abusive relationships are distorted thoughts, damaged self-worth, isolation, fear, children, financial constraints, the cycle of violence, and hope for change are also reasons.
Once I finished the secondary research I set my problem statement and objectives for this project.
The Problem
Victims of domestic abuse often aren’t aware that they are in an abusive relationship or even that their situation has a name.
Research objectives:
In accordance with the problem statement, I wrote my research objectives:
Understand in which ways domestic violence and abuse have affected women’s daily life and mental health.
Unfold how domestic violence has affected women’s perceptions and relationships with society, family, as well as friends.
Discover what are the possible reasons that made it harder for them to understand their situation (domestic abuse).
Understand their needs, feelings, and behaviors associated with domestic violence in order to find opportunities areas as a solution.
Competitive Analysis + Market gap
After conducting a competitive analysis, I found two apps that offer information, support, and safety for the victims of domestic abuse. However, neither of them offers help to survivors.
Recruitment criteria
🌎 Location: Worldwide
Interviews quotes:
Define
🔞 Age: 18 - 40 years old
Primary Research
I decided to collect qualitative because I wanted to focus on understanding the WHY:
Why aren’t victims of domestic abuse aware that they are in an abusive relationship?
Why was difficult for them to spot the signs of abuse?
My goal was to make observations that genuinely represent victims’ perspectives on their experiences. In the early stage, before creating the questions, I started recruiting users for in-depth interviews.
I have also created and shared a survey in groups of domestic abuse, but unfortunately, the number of responses was not enough to enable me to make conclusions. According to UX Research metrics, it would be necessary at least 40 responses and I collected 11.
I conducted moderated interviews with a sample of five participants who meet the predetermined criteria for recruitment.
I conducted remotely 5 in-depth interviews. Since it’s a very sensitive subject for the victims to talk about, I considered the research ethics while creating the questions and conducting the interviews. Some of my interview questions were:
Do you recognize which kind of abuse has been exposed to? (Psychological, Physical, Emotional, Financial, Sexual) — If they have suffered more than one type of abuse: Which one affected you most?
Were there any changes in your behavior with your close friends and family?
Has the domestic abuse affected your perception of yourself? If yes, could you describe how?
Synthesizing
👩 Gender: Female
💻 Tool: Zoom
After collecting and transcribing all the data in Miro, I started to cluster the information into themes in order to write insights. I clustered and structured all the information into common themes that stood out during the in-depth interviews. It became very clear that there is a pattern in abusive relationships as well as in the behaviors and feelings of the victims.
They meet the abuser and the beginning of the relationship is very nice and positive. As time pass by, the cycle of abuse starts, and the abuser shows controlling behavior towards the victim.
This is when the isolation and psychological abuse comes in, and the victim is alone without references.
Victims described emotional dependency and fear of being alone as pain points, most of them witnessed a desire to end the relationship but not being able to do. Another frustration shared was the self-damaged thoughts, confusion, and doubt about their own sense of reality.
All victims shared that their mental health was negatively affected as well as their behavior, they become more introverted, irritated, suspicious, and observant.
The most common feelings experienced by them are fear, guilt, and shame.
Lack of information and education regarding abuse, especially psychological and emotional abuse is commonly reported by the victims as the main reason why it was harder for them to realize their unhealthy partners’ behavior. As well as their young age and immaturity (all victims shared that it was their first relationship).
In order to further sum up my learnings from talking to people in the research phase, I decided to synthesize my learning into an empathy map. With the summary, I could conclude what victims constantly hear and see, and how it connects with their feelings, and behaviors while having a negative effect on their mental health.
Clustered data + Empathy mapping:
No competition offers an all-in-one solution.
The User Persona
To better empathize with the users and be able to better visualize their perspectives I created the persona based on data that I have collected from the interviews. It helped me to gain a better understanding of the users’ needs, pain points, and goals. And therefore it worked as a support for me to define my solution.
Main Insights
Psychological abuse has greater negative impact on victims comparing to other types of abuse, since it generates damaged self-worth, loss of identity, and own sense of reality
Isolation from friends and family is a pattern in victims’ behaviors. Furthermore, fear is the most common feeling followed by guilt and shame.
Abusive relationship affects negatively victim’s mental health. They reported depression and anxiety developed due to the abuse and unhealthy experience.
Victims become emotionally dependent of the perpetrator and have a deep fear of being alone. Exerting increased difficulty to leave the abusive relationship.
Opportunity
Hypotheses
Takeaways
Lack of information and education about abuse and its different types makes more difficult for the victims to recognise and understand that they are in an abusive relationship.
Victims misunderstand controlling behavior with protection and love due to the cycle of abuse, their young age, immaturity, as well as lack of information and experience regarding types of abuse, especially psychological and emotional.
Victim’s perception about themselves and other people e.g family, friends, society is directly affected by abusive relationship.
A support system and the accessibility of the necessary information in one place can make all the
difference.
Domestic abuse can occur in any situation and often has long-term consequences. Therefore, besides offering a support system, it is equally important to educate young people about abuse within relationships and survivors about available measures to make the right decision.
Business potentials
How Might We
How might we provide one-stop solution that not only provides information but also a solid collaborative support system which raises awareness for potential victims and helps survivors making the right choices?
By implementing unLOck. app which provides valuable information about abuse and its different types we hope to increase awareness that will prevent and protect victims and survivors since they will have the necessary knowledge and understanding to be able to spot the signs of abuse.
By creating a digital collaborative support system we hope to help survivors to rebuild their identity and self-confidence as they will gain knowledge and support to better deal with the negative consequences of being a victim of domestic abuse.
Maintaining strong UX research ethics is crucial, particularly when the subject matter of the research involves a sensitive topic. Research ethics were taken into consideration throughout the project e.g I could ensure that research participants were treated with respect not only when interviewing them but also while formulating interview questions, their privacy and confidentiality were protected, and their informed consent was obtained.
Secondary research plays a crucial role in building a strong foundation. By conducting secondary research it allowed me gain a broader understanding and knowledge of domestic violence. It helped me to identify my target group as well as to formulate the research objectives.
Taking on the role of my own project manager required applying a strategic research plan, setting clear goals and objectives, effective time management, and the ability to adapt as circumstances demanded. I found the experience of undertaking my first solo user research project to be highly rewarding, and I am immensely pleased with the outcomes achieved.