Breaking The Cycle

The project employs a human-centred approach and service design methodologies through auto-ethnography and participatory methods via expert interviews and user involvement in the form of discussions and observations. It aims to promote FemTech, i.e. technology tailored to women's health.

After noting my own experiences and linking them to the socio-cultural context in Victoria, an Empathy Map seemed the best tool to get deeper insight. I also spoke with Amira from the Multicultural Centre for Women's Health, who facilitates outreach programs for migrant and refugee women.

My questions centred on how to bridge the gap between these organisations and international students. Amira explained that students need a platform where everything is in one place — the current process is scattered, and students often don't know where to go, especially when newly arrived in a country.

It's important to analyse the stakeholders involved, as they have a direct or indirect impact on the people who menstruate. This map was built by analysing the level of interaction each stakeholder has with the student.

In order to fully understand the pain points of the current healthcare system, a user journey map was created mapping out an international student's current experience with the Australian healthcare system when visiting the gynaecologist for the first time for a menstrual health concern.

Upon searching for a suitable point of intervention, the RMIT Health, Safety & Wellbeing Services page seemed like the best fit as it's the hub for all health and wellbeing services.

There was no other direct point of contact for health services specifically around reproductive or sexual health — the only way was to get an appointment with a GP through Medical Hub, with varied waiting times and not enough options to match the patient's needs.

Each key theme from the research — access to care, lack of knowledge, cultural and language barriers, and community support — surfaced a corresponding feature opportunity, from a custom AI chatbot to peer-to-peer workshops.

The vision for ‘Breaking The Cycle’ is to enhance conversations about menstrual health, making women's healthcare more accessible, personalized, and equitable, especially among culturally and linguistically diverse people.

Red symbolises the quest for societal transformation — and the obvious reasoning was also the colour of blood. Blue and orange were the original colours of the Women's Liberation Movement, an inspiration for the secondary palette representing empowerment through breaking stereotypes and changing the conversation around menstrual health.

The design outcome is a communication campaign for a website for international students, spanning the different touchpoints, components and features of the service — from awareness, to interaction, to ongoing engagement.

Engaging international students through inclusive mediums of communication.

The number of international students studying in Victoria totalled 195,916 for the January–February 2024 period: China – 43,975, India – 43,665, Vietnam – 12,077 (Source: Department of Education, 2024).

The posters were designed keeping in mind the demographics, their cultural background and the languages they speak, in order to keep the tone inclusive of diverse backgrounds.

Another component of the ‘Awareness’ stage of the framework was a ‘Menstrual Care Station’. The idea for this stemmed from keeping the conversation inclusive of all genders as well.

The stations would naturally be a supply station of menstrual health products like pads, tampons, liners, etc. for people that menstruate.

This would be installed in women's toilets as essential supplies, but would also be available in common spaces outside toilets to be more gender neutral and provide access to these products to whoever may need them.

This is also a way to include men in the conversation, as they can keep the products handy for their friends and/or partners.

The menstrual care station would also have small zines for how men can support someone when they're on their period, prompting them to initiate conversations with women about how to be more open and empathetic about menstruation.

The health workshops would be conducted at RMIT University based on the questions or queries the students bring up with the Menstrual Health Advocates, which would further be deliberated upon through surveys among students.

The following stakeholders would help to:

The stakeholders would form the Breaking the Cycle ecosystem through different students and student groups, healthcare staff, women's health organisations specialising in Culturally & Linguistically Diverse groups as well as gender diverse groups. Lastly, insurance providers would also play a key role, as the list of healthcare providers available for international students would come from the OSHC providers.

Future impact spans individual, community and organisational levels — from enhanced knowledge and a sense of support, through cultural exchange and expanding the service to other universities, to improved educational resources and visibility for the cause.