Collaborating for a Cause
“I value every chance to work with industry collaborators to develop my Care to Play? app. It allows me to understand the real-life considerations I need to be mindful of, whilst staying true to my mission.”
Jaycelyn Ye
Creator, Care to Play?
BA (Industrial Design) (2019), NUS
Future caring starts now
When BA (Industrial Design) [BA (ID)] graduate Jaycelyn Ye lost her father in 2017, the pain of losing a loved one got her thinking about Advance Care Planning (ACP). ACP is a way to plan ahead with loved ones and the healthcare team in the event one is unable to make decisions, or speak for oneself.
So how did Jaycelyn put thoughts into action? She came up with a Mobile Web App solution for her Final Year Project and pitched for funding. She succeeded and received $50,000 from the NUS Resilience & Growth Innovation Challenge 2019. These funds were used to bring the app to life.
Named Care to Play?, the app attempts to spark end-of-life conversations to an earlier stage in life, thus normalising them to encourage users to plan for their future care. In developing the app, Jaycelyn sought the support of industry. She worked with ACP facilitators, namely, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, to find out more about the challenges surrounding ACP. Of the joint effort, she said: “I value every chance to work with industry collaborators to develop my Care to Play? app. It allows me to understand the real-life considerations I need to be mindful of, whilst staying true to my mission. I am glad to have this opportunity to make a positive impact on society.” In the long run, she hopes to help ACP facilitators improve the ACP scene.
Jaycelyn certainly wasn’t alone in her cause. “I would like to thank my awesome team mates Nghiem Si Phuoc and Rachel Chan, whom I co-created the app with. I am also grateful to our mentors A/Prof Song Kee Hong and Ms Danielle Goh. A/Prof Song, our lecturer, and Danielle, a media specialist and NUS alumna, guided us as and when needed. We couldn’t have done it without them,” said Jaycelyn.
Playing to youths’ potential
To explore if her app solution was feasible, Jaycelyn had researched and identified other platforms that dealt with the topic of life’s unpredictability. Some of these included art installations, and even “Getai”, which speaks more to the elderly. She had however observed through her research that the young and educated were more empowered and assertive in wanting to have control over their end-of-life.
On her choice of target audience, Jaycelyn explained: “I wanted to appeal to youths and shift perspectives among the future generations through them. I also felt that youths have the potential to help reverse the taboo of talking about death in advance. I decided to target young couples also because I can count on their close relationship to lower barriers when addressing ACP.”
The app has a nine-question quiz across three progressive stages – Casual, Intimate and Critical. “I had made the quiz questions fun and interactive to help ease couples into talking about death. Options are also availed to couples for them to “trick” one another, adding on an element of game-playing. This engages both partners so they can understand each other better and reflect on their values and preferences at the same time,” shared Jaycelyn. Further, the quiz questions, can help guide couples to make advanced healthcare decisions on behalf of one another, and ease the stress of deciding for loved ones should the unforeseen happen.
To publicise the app, Jaycelyn had partnered with the Public Service Division (Prime Minister’s Office), as well as the Agency of Integrated Care. She also ran a social media campaign, partnering several local brands that have a young audience, in hosting giveaways and promoting the app. The campaign had garnered more than 1.6 million impressions on the Instagram page of the app, and over 20,000 site visits. From the campaign outcomes, she noted: “In our day-to-day living, we don’t often speak about death. So, it is really encouraging when our followers on Instagram message to thank us, for the opportunity to bring up such important topic.”
Support Jaycelyn and try out Care to Play? at http://caretoplay.sg.
Follow @caretoplay.sg on Instagram for updates and bite-sized educational posts on ACP.