Designing a behaviorally informed peer-learning experience that helps caregivers of children with Type 1 Diabetes learn from people facing similar situations
Working with Diabetes en Movimiento, our team explored how its online learning experience could better support caregivers beyond course content. I led the community-based discussion concept, from behavioral framing and prototyping to testing with real caregivers.
Role
Product Designer
Behavioral analysis,
Concept development, Prototyping, User testing
Client
Team
3 Product Designers
Timeline
Feb 2026 - May 2026
(10 weeks)
The Challenge
Caregivers need support applying knowledge in unpredictable real-life situations
Diabetes en Movimiento provides self-paced courses for people with Type 1 Diabetes and their families. For parents caring for children with T1D, however, knowing the medical guidance does not always make everyday decisions can change from situation to situation.
Through secondary research and founder interviews, we identified two recurring challenges:
01
Uncertainty can turn into hesitation
Even when caregivers have information, they may still be unsure how to respond in a specific situation.
02
Caregivers lacked relatable reference points
Lack of peer validation make it harder to judge whether an experience is normal or how someone else handled a similar situation.
Opportunity
Exposure to real examples became the core behavioral opportunity
Our behavioral framework pointed to Exposure to Examples: specific, visible examples can influence how people understand unfamiliar situations.
Exposure to Examples
Give caregivers access to concrete peer experiences.
BASE PRINCIPLE
Relevant Identity
Help people recognize experiences from caregivers in similar situations.
SUPPORTING PRINCIPLE
Standards & Structure
Organize examples around recognizable needs so they are easier to find and interpret.
SUPPORTING PRINCIPLE
Concept
I explored community as a way to bring peer examples into the learning experience
As a team, we explored two directions for the online learning experience:
01
Community-based Discussion
Help caregivers learn from experiences shared by other families.
02
Personalized Guidance
Recommend relevant lessons based on a caregiver's current situation.
Prototype
I tested whether a relatable caregiver story could created stronger identification
I created two entry experiences that led into the same community flow.
Version A : Collective normalization
Used aggregate social proof to show that many caregivers shared the experience.
Version B : Contextual identification
Introduced a specific caregiver and their situation.
Prototypes designed on Figma, and then transferred to v0 for better scrollytelling experience for user testing.
Hypothesis
A contextual caregiver story (Version B) would make caregivers feel more understood and more willing to participate.
Testing
Testing pointed toward contextual, relatable peer experiences
We tested the concept with 7 caregivers recruited through Diabetes en Movimiento within a week. 5 participants felt Version B more understood and more likely to share something personal.
“I feel it’s more personal to get to know the other person better.”
Open-ended feedback also showed that caregiver wanted to learn through lived experience, not just receive generalized advice. They saw value not only in learning from others, but in contributing their own experience in return.
“The act of sharing common situations and seeing how others resolved them encourages me to share my story because it might help someone else.”
Recommended Interaction Direction
Outcome
A tested direction for how community could add value to the product
By the end of the project, we delivered:
A behaviorally grounded community concept
Two tested prototype directions
Evidence from 7 caregiver-users
A set of recommended product direction and open questions for future development
What still needs validation
Whether caregivers would:
return during real moments of uncertainty
contribute over time
act differently because of a peer example
re-enter course content through community
feel comfortable with specific privacy