{"id":269,"date":"2025-05-29T10:47:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T14:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/?p=269"},"modified":"2025-09-19T10:58:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T14:58:26","slug":"tangible-reflections-supporting-mens-mental-health-through-data-physicalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/2025\/tangible-reflections-supporting-mens-mental-health-through-data-physicalization\/","title":{"rendered":"Tangible Reflections: Supporting Men\u2019s Mental Health Through Data Physicalization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n            <div class=\"cu-textmedia flex flex-col lg:flex-row mx-auto gap-6 md:gap-10 my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 max-w-5xl\">\n        <div class=\"justify-start cu-textmedia-content cu-prose-first-last\" style=\"flex: 0 0 100%;\">\n            <header class=\"font-light prose-xl cu-pageheader md:prose-2xl cu-component-updated cu-prose-first-last\">\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] pb-5 after:w-10 text-cu-black-700 not-prose\">\n                        Tangible Reflections: Supporting Men\u2019s Mental Health Through Data Physicalization \n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                                \n                                    \n\n<p>Sharon Rojas&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n                            <\/header>\n\n                    <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"project-summary\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Project Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite growing awareness of mental health, many men continue to struggle with emotional expression, often constrained by cultural norms and societal expectations. Sharon Rojas\u2019s thesis explores how <strong>data physicalization<\/strong> and <strong>personal informatics<\/strong>, grounded in <strong>human-centered design<\/strong>, can offer alternative ways for men to reflect on and express their emotions\u2014particularly in the context of social media use.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Focusing on male university students aged 18\u201325, the study investigates how tangible, interactive representations of emotional data can disrupt habitual digital consumption and prompt deeper introspection. The project uses a three-phase methodology: 1) semi-structured interviews to understand current behaviors and barriers, 2) collaborative prototyping with designers, and 3) parallel user testing of multiple physicalization prototypes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By connecting self-tracking with material interaction, the research contributes novel insights into designing for <strong>emotional wellbeing, gendered experiences, and reflective interaction<\/strong>. It integrates the KARA model (Knowledge, Awareness, Reflection, Action), created by Jimenez (2014), to guide intervention without demanding behavior change, prioritizing <strong>self-awareness and emotional literacy<\/strong> over correction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Keywords<\/strong>: Data Physicalization, Men\u2019s Mental Health, Emotional Expression, Personal Informatics, Human-Centered Design, Social Media Reflection, Tangible Interaction&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n                \n        <div class=\"cu-column cu-component not-contained mx-auto grid max-w-5xl md:grid-cols-3 gap-6 md:gap-10\">\n            \n\n    \n    <div class=\"not-prose cu-card rounded-lg @container md:max-w-xl flex flex-col gap-3 bg-white shadow-lg shadow-cu-black-100 text-center group duration-300 ease-in hover:scale-[1.02] hover:shadow-cu-black-200\">\n                    <figure class=\"px-6 pt-8 pb-2 mb-2 overflow-hidden rounded-t-lg cu-figure--round\">\n                                    <div class=\"relative\">\n                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.carleton.ca\/rds\/assets\/graphics\/grey-bg.jpg\" alt=\"Background grey\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/>\n\n                        <div style=\"letter-spacing: -3px\" class=\"absolute text-2xl transform -translate-x-1\/2 -translate-y-1\/2 left-1\/2 top-1\/2 bg-cu-black-50 text-cu-black-700 sm:text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl\">\n                            <p>\n                                S\n                                R\n                            <\/p>\n                        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n                            <\/figure>\n        \n        <header class=\"px-6 first:mt-6\">\n            <h2 class=\"text-lg font-semibold text-cu-black @sm:md:text-xl leading-6 @sm:md:leading-8\">\n                                    Sharon\n                    Rojas\n                            <\/h2>\n        <\/header>\n\n        <div class=\"flex flex-col px-6\">\n            <ul class=\"space-y-2 text-sm text-cu-black-700 @sm:md:text-base\">\n                \n                                    <li>\n                        <strong class=\"font-semibold break-all text-cu-red-700 hover:underline\">\n                            <a href=\"mailto:SharonRojas@cmail.carleton.ca\">\n                                Email\n                                Sharon\n                            <\/a>\n                        <\/strong>\n                    <\/li>\n                \n                            <\/ul>\n        <\/div>\n\n                    <footer class=\"px-6 pt-3 mt-auto text-white md:pt-5\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/people\/sharon-rojas\/\" class=\"cu-button cu-button--red cu-button--small\">\n                    View Profile\n                <\/a>\n            <\/footer>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n        <\/div>\n\n        \n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Project Summary Despite growing awareness of mental health, many men continue to struggle with emotional expression, often constrained by cultural norms and societal expectations. Sharon Rojas\u2019s thesis explores how data physicalization and personal informatics, grounded in human-centered design, can offer alternative ways for men to reflect on and express their emotions\u2014particularly in the context of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-mdes"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions\/349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/positivetechlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}