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Master's Thesis | MSc. Design for Interaction
Chachat:
Towards a design to support young Chinese adults’ mental health during quarantine in the corona crisis
Mar 2020 - Oct 2020
Author
Xiaodi Tang
Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering
Delft University of Technology
Supervisory team
Chair
Prof. dr. Schoormans, J.P.L.
Department: Product Innovation Management
Section: Marketing Consumer Research
Mentor
Dr. ir. Boeijen, A.G.C. van
Department: Human-Centred Design (HCD)
Section: Design Aesthetics
Introduction
This master's graduation project was started from the issue of the COVID-19 crisis, exploring a special context - the first quarantined city, Wuhan. The primary objective of this project is to gain a deeper understanding of individuals who were quarantined at home for an extended period and to utilise interactive design to support their mental well-being during quarantine.
23rd of January, the city where I lived from my childhood, Wuhan, was announced to be locked down because of an unexpected monster - the coronavirus. Nobody has experienced the situation before, which sounds like a movie plot. My family and friends are forbidden to leave the city, leave the house. Their world became as small as the room, knowing the outside world via screens, even though they could not do anything to change the situation. Since then, the news of the epidemic occupied their lives, and checking the number of deaths became a necessary and annoying daily routine. Staying in a place 8800km away from them with worries and feeling helpless made them and me also suffer. They appeared optimistic, but I could feel their difficulties from their endless desire to tell. My thoughts about a subject for my graduation project were conceived weeks later, when my shocks and worries were gradually self-controlled.
According to this question, this project explored the stories of the people who live in this special situation and found design intervention possibilities.
How could a designer help people with mental health in this situation?
"How did I carry out this design exploration?"
Here, I'll provide a brief overview of this project. If you're interested, click the icon at the bottom of this page to view the full thesis.
Fig. 1 shows the overview of the project approach and how it is structured in this report. Based on the Revamped Double Diamond Design Process Framework (Design Council, 2005), this project was followed a linear process in four phases: discover, define, develop, and deliver.
Fig. 1. Overview of the project
Part 1. Discover
The Wuhan Lockdown
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, broke out in Wuhan, China, and rapidly spread worldwide, leading the WHO to declare it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January 2020 and a pandemic by March 2020. On January 23, 2020, China implemented a complete lockdown in Wuhan, a densely populated transportation hub of 11 million people and the epicentre of COVID-19. As the nation's busiest railway centre, handling 120 million annual passengers, Wuhan's connectivity made it particularly vulnerable to rapid virus spread. The extreme containment measures prohibited all unauthorised entry and exit from the city while confining residents to their homes except for essential activities. Physical barriers, including iron sheet walls and guarded checkpoints, segmented urban areas to enforce movement restrictions, transforming the normally bustling city into a landscape of empty streets monitored for controlled supply distribution. This drastic intervention represented one of the most comprehensive quarantine efforts in modern public health history.
The early epidemic period in Wuhan created profound societal changes across four key dimensions: factual developments, behavioural adaptations, psychological impacts, and support systems. The immediate lockdown on January 23 dramatically altered daily life, with shuttered businesses, suspended public transport, and movement restrictions, while the "Wuhan virus" label sparked online discrimination. Residents faced severe medical shortages and constant anxiety fueled by real-time epidemic tracking data. Behaviorally, panic buying of masks and essentials emerged alongside complete digital dependence - for work, shopping, and social connection through online platforms. Psychologically, interviews revealed widespread fear and distress among citizens. However, substantial support systems were developed, including nationwide medical reinforcements, rapid hospital construction, material donations, and mental health initiatives like counselling hotlines and digital entertainment provisions. This comprehensive response framework addressed both physical survival needs and psychological well-being during the crisis.
Fig. 2. COVID -19 pandemic dashboard
Fig. 3. A man wears a mask in a deserted street
Fig. 4. The impact of epidemic development on people live in Wuhan
Mental Health Issue During Quarantine
The COVID-19 quarantine in Wuhan precipitated a mental health crisis, with surveys revealing 42.6% of citizens experienced anxiety and 16.6% suffered moderate-to-severe depression, mirroring historical quarantine effects that included extreme outcomes like suicide and legal disputes. While authorities implemented support measures—including public encouragement campaigns (livestreams reaching 90 million viewers, "Good Night Message" initiatives) and professional counselling services (24/7 hotlines, WeChat-based support)—critical limitations persisted due to cultural stigma surrounding mental health and a shortage of trained professionals, leaving many needs unaddressed despite these interventions.
Fig. 5. Quarantined people in Wuhan
Fig. 6. Mental Health Continuum Model (Lamers et al., 2011)
In order to further narrow down the scope of the target group, the Mental Health Continuum Model (MHC model) was used to divide people into their mental health phases.
As mentioned before in a recent study, nearly half of the people had anxiety related to the epidemic in China, which proved that even more people had mild mental problems. However, due to the prejudice against mental problems, a large number of people were concealed or even were not aware that they had a mental problem. The mild mental problem could be self-controlled or adjusted after non-professional intervention. This showed a great opportunity for design intervention. Therefore, considering the feasibility of intervention as a designer and accessibility of the intended user, in this project, I planned to focus on the people whose mental health was at the “reacting” level and the mild “injured” level.
Regarding the IASC (Inter-Agency Standing Committee) Guidelines on MHPSS (Mental Health and Psychosocial Support) in Emergency Settings (Fig.7). A multi-layered support system is shown in the intervention pyramid, which is aimed at supporting people according to diverse mental states and mental needs. The intervention pyramid provided a limitation for the non-specialised supports; it helped me scope the people I could design for and provide help to. Also, a feasible and suitable area of design intervention was generated - Community and family supports.
Fig. 7. IASC Guidelines on MHPSS in Emergency Settings
In-depth User Research
In order to gain a deeper understanding of the psychological issues of people at that time, I conducted a series of investigations, using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, including contextmapping, questionnaires, role play sessions, and interviews, to gather information from these experts- the users in the field.
Fig. 8. Research methods
To collect the experiences from the potential target users and discover their practical matters, pain points and latent needs from their experience, which are abstract qualities belonging to the tacit and latent level of the knowledge (Fig.9) that participants are unable to talk about directly during the session, contextmapping was used here to get more first-hand information. As the filled template showed on this slide, participants were asked to reflect and express their experience in this exploration. Templates were provided for them as generative tools. By following the steps on the template, participants were asked to draw or write on the paper to describe their ordinary day during the epidemic and use the facial expression icons to indicate the activities they enjoyed and disliked (Fig.10). They were asked to explain the reason behind their choices during the interview.
Fig. 9. Levels of knowledge in this context
Fig. 10. An example of a participant's writing material using generative tool - a templet
Due to the irresistible factors of the epidemic at that time, I was unable to conduct on-site research. I asked participant to take pictures in their house where they spent happy and unhappy times to show the environment in a specific situation. Pictures were collected and sorted into two categories (Fig.11). The clustered pictures show the main triggers of happiness and unhappiness. Natural elements, food and snacks, entertainment and art creation, pets, and company from friends and family are the 5 main factors of happiness. And ‘hard to concentrate, being mentally influenced by others, being alone and thinking too much, and information about the epidemic are the main reasons for feeling unhappy.
Fig. 11. Categories of the participants’ picture
The pandemic dramatically increased online engagement as digital platforms became the primary means for information, work, and social connection, exposing users to both convenience and stress-inducing content. While this shift affected all age groups, young adults particularly struggled to adapt, showing greater lifestyle disruption and psychological impact compared to older generations, who demonstrated better coping abilities, highlighting how pre-pandemic digital habits and adaptability shaped different quarantine experiences.
The study employed a structured questionnaire comprising three sections: demographic information (age, gender, location, living/working conditions), online behaviours (duration and types of digital activities), and emotional responses to pandemic-related information (sources of distress and coping mechanisms). Following iterative testing and refinement, the survey was distributed digitally from March 22-26, 2020, yielding 440 responses. After geographic filtering, 127 valid responses from Wuhan residents (age 19-62; 65.4% female) were analysed through cross-tabulation and sector diagram visualisation to identify behavioural patterns and psychosocial impacts during quarantine. The methodology prioritised location-specific data while capturing generational and gendered experiences of digital engagement under pandemic restrictions.
Fig. 12. Negative emotions at different stage of the epidemic
People's mental states were changing as time passed, and the trend of the crisis changed. The specific negative emotions were also different at different stages of the epidemic. According to the results of the interview session. For the Outbreak stage. Because of the unexpectedness of the epidemic, the lockdown policy and a series of untested measures from the local government were implemented. Shock, Anxiety, Anger and disgust were the main negative emotions in the peak stage. After living in isolation for more than a month, although the epidemic was getting worse, people were used to the quarantine life and no longer feared the epidemic and its impact. However, people were getting tired of living in the same area and meeting the same people every day; Nostalgia, Sadness and frustration emerged. Mild stage. The information about the city's unblocking had been announced, and the time of quarantine was no longer endless. They started to consider the near future about their work and study. After a few months of aimless life with irregular sleeping times, they found it hard to go back to the daily schedule like before. Reluctance and Guilt were the main negative emotions in this stage.
Part 2. Define
Target Users
Since lots of insights were already gained from previous research activities but the mass of information still showed a blurred outline of the intended user. After the process of collecting insights, clustering, and refining the useful information, Personas were managed to used here as the summarising approach for a better presentation of these insights.
Fig. 13. The process of making personas
The result of in-depth user research suggested that people had various negative emotions and various emotions at different stages of the epidemic. Based on the 3 stages of an epidemic - outbreak stage, peak stage, and mild stage, three typical personas were made respectively.
Fig. 14. Personas
For reframing the context, I draw a storyboard of a target user’s typical day. Additionally, an emotional curve was also illustrated along with this story, which clearly showed the high and low points of the experience. According to the experience map, it showed the negative emotions were usually accumulated while people were staying alone in their rooms and sitting in front of the screen. These generated a valuable design opportunity - to provide them with chances to talk to the people they want when they were staying alone.
Fig. 15. Experience map of one ordinary day in quarantine
Problem Statement
Some young adults (22~28 year olds) living in an urban place in China had some mild mental health problems since they were isolated at home with their families for more than a month during the COVID-19 crisis.
Considering the dimension of identification, space, attitude and experience, a comparison of value orientation was shown between the current situation and desired interaction. Thus, 4 design visions were generated.
Design goal
Through the 5 explorations in research, the design goal of the project was gradually narrowed down (Fig.16) from a broad one - to help quarantined people in Wuhan with mental health problems, to a concrete one -
To help quarantined young adults in Wuhan with mild mental health problems, provide them with chances to have more communication with peers/ friends.
Design visions and requirements
Fig. 16. Design goal iteration
Part 3. Develop
As shown in Fig.17, with the design visions and requirements, three initial ideas were generated through brainstorming. After a feedback session with peers, an idea was chosen as the initial concept.
Fig. 17. Initial concept generation progress
Since the chosen idea was still abstract, prototyping was executed in this stage as the main design method for implementing ideas into a more tangible form. Several low-fi prototypes were made and tested to gain feedback and have iterations. After 2 iterations, the concept -chachat was generated.
Fig. 18. Concept iterations
The concept - ‘Chachat’ was created based on the combination of the positive parts from previous concepts. It was a social network mini program which attached to WeChat (the most popular social network application in China). The name consisted of the Chinese word ’茶 (cha)’ means tea, and ‘chat’, which indicated that the platform was related to Chinese ‘teatime break’ culture. Chatat was designed for the young adults who had to stay at home for a long time, and were tired of working and studying online in quarantine. In China, most of the company have a ‘tea room’ （茶水间） for employees to have a short break during working hours. This ‘tea room’ was a public space that always provided hot water, tea bags, coffee, snacks, seats for rest and even some entertainment equipment. For young employees, the ‘tea room’ was a symbol of relaxation, where they could sit down together and have a short time free chat. After a short break, they can recharge more energy to work.
However, people had no ‘teatime break’ experience during the epidemic since quarantine; they lost the happiness when they spent time in this shared area. This concept,t ‘Chachat’, aimed to bring back the values from the physical teatime experience through an online platform; it also wanted users to feel the teatime atmosphere even if staying alone at home.
Fig. 19. Concept Modules
Main modules: There were several modules in this online platform (Fig.19):
Module 1. The greeting ritual user needed to record sentences as greeting messages.
Module 2. Unexpected chat with an acquaintance mini program would access the WeChat contacts of users while using it. It also allowed users to choose the people to talk to and mute people they do not want to talk to while using Chachat. The main function of Chachat was to match the accessible person in the contact list randomly and to create a random chat.
Module 3. Welcome to interrupt and join the conversationChachat allows multiple people (3 people) to chat in a small group.
Module 4. Time limits for ‘teatime break’ during working hours.
Module 5. Physical product - the smart cup for upgraded users during quarantine, people spent too much time in front of screens.
Part 4. Deliver
Final Design
Chachat (茶寮) was a sub-application inWechat mini program platform. It was designed for the young people who were quarantined at home for a long time during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. It aimed to help these people reduce some negative emotions and bring more energy while working/studying from home. To achieve this goal, I created a social platform that, during tea breaks, provides informal chats between friends and peers. The design intends that such an informal meeting will give the quarantined people a kind of 'tea room' experience where people meet in an unplanned way. Central to this concept is the idea that the users do not know in advance who will join their tea break. They will all be from their own selected group, but - similar to a physical tea moment- who will be there at the same time is a surprise.
Fig. 20. Chachat prototype
Evaluation
There were two main goals for the evaluation: To evaluate whether the concept canachieve the design goal.To evaluate whether the design canachieve the design visions and require-ments. About the design visions, four visions wereevaluated individually.
Reflection on the design goal
‘To help quarantined young adults in Wuhan...’
Because of the changing context, the context in Wuhan was different. For the young adults who were staying in the Netherlands and America, the context was currently similar to the intended context. The very positive feedback from the participants located in these regions could, to some extent, prove that this part was achieved.
‘...with the mild mental health problem.’
From the evaluation result, the design could help young adults have a short-term development of their mental states since it could make them feel relaxed and be recharged. But for the long-term experience, there was still some uncertainty. As for ‘mental health problem’, since mental health was a long-term assessment. ‘Can the design benefit mental health problems? ’ could not be evaluated in a short time test, and it might need more psychological evaluation methods.
Full version
‘...by providing them chances to have more communication with peers/friends.’
The final design was a social network tool for users to have a more informal chatting experience. This part met the design goal well.