Exploring the use of social media: implications for participatory design with undergraduate students

The aim of this work in progress is to present our experience of working with young adults in the context of designing a wearable technology to reduce back injury among nurses. Participatory considerations for involving young adults are reflected on in this paper. We will examine various research activities that either promoted meaningful participation or did not function as we had intended. Further, we propose that social media offers an opportunity to foster participation in this population. The discussion in this paper can help other researchers gain insight into the development and implementation of strategies to increase involvement from young adult co-designers.