"We can learn. Why not?": Designing Technologies to Engender Equity for Home Health Aides

HCI researchers have increasingly studied how technology might improve the lives of marginalized workers. We explored this question through a qualitative study with home health aides in New York City, a vulnerable group of frontline caregivers whose work with patients is poorly paid and highly stressful, often involving life-or-death situations. To elicit the perspectives of aides and their supervisors on how technology interventions might contribute to moving aides towards a better future, we created a design provocation that centers aides' needs and suggests more equitable roles for them within the home care ecosystem. Findings from design sessions with 16 aides, nurses, and aide coordinators illuminate the ethical and pragmatic dilemmas inherent in this complex ecosystem, and show that designing technology for equity requires attention to structural problems in addition to workers' stated needs. We analyze our findings through the lens of social justice-oriented interaction design, and discuss how our work extends key strategies within this framework.