Intimate care: exploring eTextiles for teaching female pelvic fitness

Olivier, P;, Balaam, M;, Comber, R;, Almeida, T

doi:10.1145/2598784.2602768

Intimate care: exploring eTextiles for teaching female pelvic fitness

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Robert Comber, Professor Patrick Olivier ORCiD, Dr Madeline Balaam

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This is the authors' accepted manuscript of a conference proceedings (inc. abstract) that has been published in its final definitive form by ACM New York, NY, USA, 2014.

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Abstract

Intimate care is integral to the lifecourse, and it includes care tasks that are linked to personal hygiene, bodily functions and products. In this paper, we explore the potential of eTextiles as catalysts for conversations around intimate care. We designed a kit that integrates eTextiles as the core material to teach and learn about intimate parts of the self and to support body literacy. We deployed this design kit in an educational context, with a group of six female participants aged 15-16. We suggest avenues for future research within health and wellbeing, in combination with smart, wearable materials.