The growing challenges presented by the current mental health crisis provide opportunities for alternative interventions to support social and community healthcare practices. One such example is engagement with physical objects, which has been found to be beneficial in a variety of these contexts. These “object-based practices” elicit sensory experience and provide a stimulus for communication, both of which can effectively support mental health and wellbeing.
Despite the multisensory potential of materiality and the impact of this on affective response, few examples exist of object-based practices which incorporate deliberately crafted objects.
Concurrently, the concept of “hybrid craft” is developing, whilst a variety of digitally enhanced vibrotactile objects continue to show promising implications for mental health and wellbeing across a variety of HCI contexts.
This project employed a Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology underpinned by Creative Reflective Practice to create newly crafted objects which were used as “enticatypes” to open up conversation around the potential for handcrafted and digitally enhanced objects to contribute to further development of object-based practices. A series of non-digital artefacts were created in the first phase, which were used in activity-based interviews with professional participants working in a variety of mental health and wellbeing contexts within Scotland.
Digitally enhanced cultural probes were produced in the second phase for the same participants to reflect on individually. The research culminated in a focus group where a series of recommendations were co-produced between participants and the researcher.
Findings showed that handcrafted objects could be more successful in these contexts than those traditionally used in object-based practices. Value was also found in the creation of diverse object-based “communities of practice”, and the possibilities for handcrafted objects to facilitate difficult conversations in other areas of social research.