What did past participants say about the app?
My name is Neftali. I’m one of the participants from the Healing Heart App. What made me interested was I was at a fatherhood seminar. I saw their booth, was curious, and wanted to see what it was and if it could help me.
It was a really good experience in the study. The friendly reminders, being able to talk after each chapter with somebody, giving my input. And it was very, it just flowed. It was a very good experience.
What makes the study important is that dads need help. There’s not a lot of resources for them out there. And it’s really important that, just like this app, there’s plenty of other programs we need to keep building and moving forward and making sure dads have these type of help available.
What made it both meaningful and rewarding was that I felt my voice was heard and that my input was gonna help somebody down the road.
One thing I would like to share, if you’re like me, life happens, you get distracted, but you just gotta stick with the program. Keep doing it. If you can do it every day, great. If you can’t, you gotta sit there. You finally get that one, two hours to yourself.You just sit there and you just go for it and you work the program. Just because stuff happens doesn’t mean you quit. This is for you at the end of the day, just like how I did it for myself.
“Great app to use — it really was useful for me, and I did look forward to my time alone to do the lessons.”
– A mother with sole custody of a teenager
“I generally don’t use apps in my everyday life. I really liked the lessons in this app though. Learning to be more mindful is a good lesson for us all. I liked learning not to judge myself too harshly. That was refreshing to hear.”
– A newly divorced mother of a school-aged child
“(In the mindful eating activity), the narrator did a good job with breaking down what exactly we were trying to accomplish. I would give her “Strongly Agree” for that section. Please let me know when Part Two is available as I would like to continue.”
– A father of a school-aged child, legally separated from ex
What is this project about?
To support recently divorced or separated parents, including those who are still in the process of divorce or separation, we are developing a web app teaching parents mindful self-care and parenting.
A human-centered design approach (qualitative and quantitative methods)
Divorced parents as our co-designers and divorce professionals as our stakeholders
Collaboration with our amazing web development team from UConn Internal Insights & Innovation
Our findings from one-on-one interviews with 65 divorced mothers, fathers, divorce lawyers, court professionals and parenting class providers led to the design of this app prototype. We are currently recruiting eligible parents for user testing!
All activities can be done online and participation will be compensated.
Would you be willing to help with our initiative? Here’s how you can assist:
- Send this website to potential parents.
- Display our flyers in an office, lobby, or waiting room. Please email us for flyers!
- If you need physical copies, let us know. We can mail them to you.
With your support, we can make a difference in the lives of those navigating the complexities of parenting or coparenting after divorce or separation.
Acknowledgements
National Institute of Mental Health grant K01-122502
UConn Internal Insights & Innovation
UConn Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention and Policy
Research participants, community partners, & collaborators
