Digital wellbeing through design: Evaluation of a professional development workshop on wellbeing-supportive design

Abstract

Concerns over the impact of technologies on psychological health have led to a growing interest in ‘digital wellbeing’ and related research within HCI. In order for technologies to better respect psychological needs, designers will need to incorporate wellbeing-supportive design knowledge and methods into their practice in ways that are practical and scalable. To this end, we developed and evaluated a workshop and resources intended to equip technology-makers with the research-based knowledge and skills necessary to design in ways that better support psychological wellbeing. We report on findings from two iterations of the workshop conducted with HCI and technology professionals. Results from surveys of 56 participants demonstrate that the final workshop was considered valuable, well-structured, and successful in improving knowledge of wellbeing psychology in ways transferrable to practice. We also share lessons learned in the process that might generalise to workshop development in HCI more broadly.