Perspective
Qube - Overcoming fear of syringes | Design Sprint 19
With the QUBE , product design student Alicia Lorena Müller has created a product that fills a gap in the market: The aim of her design brief was to design an aid for children to overcome their fear of needles/syringes, which offers both distraction and reassurance in acute situations and can also be used at home as a therapy aid.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
Trypanophobia, commonly known as syringe phobia (blood-syringe injury phobia), is the number one phobia worldwide. According to studies, the number of people affected worldwide has risen from 25% (1995) to 65% (2012).
In Germany, around 20-30% of all children are affected, which corresponds to between 2.14 and 3.21 million affected children.
Trypanophobia manifests itself differently from case to case. However, the result is usually the same: avoidance of injections, infusions, transfusions and all other processes involving a syringe/needle.
The phobia usually develops from the age of five. This is precisely why the Qube starts at this age: To prevent a phobia from manifesting in the first place.
PROCESS
At the beginning, it was still very open as to what a possible product could look like in the end, as there are no comparable products on the market yet.
In order to be able to put herself in their shoes, Alicia interviewed several of those affected and, on the basis of these interviews, identified starting points that could help them overcome their fear.
THE CUBE - BE CURIOUS
The Qube is an educational toy that can be used at home or on the go. It is designed to create a positive association with the process of injecting in children so that they do not develop a fear of needles in the first place. If they are already afraid, the Qube should help them to make new positive associations and thus alleviate their fear.
The Qube has five pages with playful pictures. Each one has a different motif that can be discovered. The Town Musicians make animal sounds, the fireworks light up in the "sky". If the child taps next to the keyboard, the piano plays a melody, while the microphone sings a song. Finally, pressing the syringe helps the fire department put out a fire or the child can watch a flower turn thanks to the interaction.
The syringe is the key piece of the Qube. It has a metal tip that has to touch the metal plate in the recesses provided in order to close the circuit and thus trigger a reaction. To simulate filling and squeezing the syringe, there is a red cylinder inside the syringe, which disappears or appears when the hollow plunger is moved. This makes the syringe appear either full or empty and can be used playfully. However, this process is not decisive for triggering the reaction. It is intended purely for better association with a real syringe.
At home, the Qube can be stored on its station. The sixth side of the cube without a motif is placed on the induction surface of the charging station.
The station is connected to the mains via a USB-C cable and thus serves as a charging cradle for the mobile cube. A built-in LED ring indicates whether the cube is empty (red), charging (orange) or fully charged (green).
