d.compress project

1. ProtoLyfe
Ashley Moulton
Sarah McDevitt
How visualizing potential life outcomes can
help decrease high school students’ stress

2. Stressor:
High school pressures
“I feel like if I get a bad grade on a test, I’ll
get a bad grade in the class, then I won’t
get into a good college, then I won’t be
successful in life.”
- “Brooklyn” ‘16
POV:
High school students can reduce their stress
about the future if they can broaden
definitions of future success

3. SBTM: Simplest Behavior that
Matters
Identify and visualize 3 future paths to happiness,
helping students understand that one “mistake” won't
alter their future meaningfully

4. Prototype 1: Life Maps via Post-It
Step 1: Student lists 3…
● places
● careers
● work environments
● college majors
● hobbies
Step 2: We draw
Step 3: Student reflects

5. Prototype 2: Life Maps via texts

6. Prototype 2: Life Maps via texts

7. Design Trial
Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
Life Map
Group
pre-test Question
1:
location
Question
2:
work
environ.
Question
3:
career
Question
4:
college
major
Question
5:
hobby
● sent 3 life
maps
● then
submitted
reflection on
life maps
● then
completed
post-test
Question
Only
Group
pre-test Question
1:
location
Question
2:
work
environ.
Question
3:
career
Question
4:
college
major
Question
5:
hobby
post-test

8. Design Trial
Questions
● Engagement: Will students participate?
● Outcome: Reduce current stress about...
○ future?
○ consequences of a bad test grade?
Participants
● 19 high school students
● Grades 9-12
● From 5 high schools in California and Pennsylvania
● High academic achievers
?
?
?
?
? ?
?

9. Engagement Results
They liked it!
17 of 19 students participated in all 7 days
“I really loved the personalized life map! That really made me
excited.”
“I liked it all! Thank you!”
“Each day's questions were quick and easy to answer, which was good. I liked that I
could do it all on my phone, too.”

10. Qualitative Stress Results
Life Map Group: Decreased Stress
“This project made me realize that I have more options than I thought. I don’t have to
decide my entire life right now, which many high school students feel pressured to
do.” - 11th grader
“This helped me realize that I don’t have to make all my decisions now, and that there is still
the option for me to change my mind halfway through life.” - 11th
grader
“I do not have just one option to follow, I realized I have multiple paths I could go
on and still be happy.” - 12th grader
“It made me excited to get my life started.” - 11th grader

11. “Eh, not really.”
“Not really.”
“I still don't know what I want to do in my future so not really.”
“It made me feel a little better because it simplified everything down into just naming
three options I was considering instead of a billion options swirling around my head.”
Qualitative Stress Results
Questions Only Group: Unchanged

12. Quantitative Results:
Life Maps Reduced Future Stress
% Reduction in self-
reported stress about the
future:
Life Map group: 23%
Questions only: 4%
n=9 n=7
High
stress
Low
stress

13. Quantitative Results:
Life Maps Reduced Future Stress
% Reduction in the
perceived effect of one bad
test grade this year on future
success:
Life Map group: 10%
Questions only: 3%
n=9 n=7
High
effect
Low
effect

14. Insight
By visualizing multiple future lives that
would make them happy, high school
students can reduce the stress that comes
from believing there is only one path to
success

15. Prototype 3: ProtoLyfe

17. Next Steps
Feature additions:
- Affirmations that it is okay to be uncertain about future paths
- Use more interest-based questions to develop life paths
User testing:
- Test with boys
- With larger data set, look for any correlation between academic indicators
(homework hours, # APs) and intervention effects