Designing for Caregivers: Toward a Caregiver Experience Framework and Design Cards for Inclusive Playgrounds

Xinzhe Zhao, Jiayi Zou, Zi Yang, Ines Ziyou Yin, Kin Wai Michael Siu

Designing inclusive public playgrounds requires considering all users, including children and caregivers. Previous studies have focused primarily on children’s needs and experiences, but caregivers’ perspectives are often overlooked. This study aimed to identify key experience design considerations for caregivers in public playgrounds. To this end, it developed a set of Caregivers Experience Design for Inclusive Playground (CED-IP) cards. The findings contribute to a better understanding of caregiver experiences in the design of public spaces. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with caregivers randomly in Hong Kong playgrounds. Through grounded theory data coding, an evaluation dataset of caregiver experiences with inclusive public children’s playgrounds was created. The CED-IP card is generated entirely based on the caregiver’s interview data. The results were distilled into the CED-IP cards, which include 9 design consideration headings: safety, comfort, interactivity, playability, inclusivity, service, convenience, supportive, purpose. The results provide discussion on the content and priorities of experience design for playground facilities and environments. The CED-IP cards are worded carefully so that they can be used or adapted for other play sectors. This study further explored and developed a caregiving experience design framework comprising four interrelated experiential elements: Meaning construction, Affective comfort, Perceived ease, and Autonomous control.