Sway Together, Stay Together: Visualizing Spiritual Support Networks Through the SoulGarden Prototype

Abstract

Spiritual support is a fundamental yet understudied dimension of support exchange in Online Health Communities. Recent work suggested that visualization of spiritual support networks offers a promising design mechanism for helping patients and caregivers navigate life-threatening physical or mental illnesses. Therefore, through user-centered and community-situated inquiry, we designed and developed SoulGarden–an interface that helps users visualize their spiritual support network in order to reduce loneliness and increase a sense of community and belonging. Initial feedback from user tests suggests that our nature-based theme provides users with feelings of calm and comfort, and that seeing the faces and prayers of supporters adds a meaningful sensory component to online support exchange. Our evaluation also suggests three valuable design considerations for future support network visualizations.