Empathizing with the user —how emotion plays into the benefits journey

As we have progressed into the research phase of our project, empathy has been key to understand those who benefit from social services and to gain a sense of how actions, emotions, and feelings go into the process of applying for and receiving benefits.

A recent article, published in Political Psychology in Sept. 2019 highlights the importance of empathy with regards to social services, “The up and down regulation of empathy in response to someone in need of government welfare helps illuminate the sharp divisions over social welfare policy among the American public.”

Through our project, our intention is to challenge pain-points that we assume to exist in the system with our findings from user research.

This week, we got out of the lab and into the field. Building on our foundation of interviews with PA state benefits experts and our findings with regards to existing analogous domain interventions, the missing piece of the puzzle was how the people who need these programs feel about them — discovering them, applying for them, having their applications accepted or denied, and potentially reapplying on a regular cadence.

We did this in two parts: field research and journey mapping.

Into the Field

Field research is exactly what it sounds like: we got together in subteams and devised a set of goals that we then shaped into opportunities.

421 Food Rescue

We contacted 412 Food Rescue and this led an in-person interview with their Nonprofit Partner Manager. We learned that he used to work part-time as a truck driver and we asked about his work partnering with nonprofits to providing food to the greater community. We learned that their main nonprofit partners include housing authorities in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County at large. Their distribution is free and requires no paperwork or applications; distribution is solely reliant on a resident volunteer willing to be certified in serving food. Our interview led to scheduling a ride-along with their truck driver as a next step to help us get a better idea of how 412 serves the community. This way we hope to learn more about the food distribution network and understand the journey that truck drivers take.

We also reached out to contacts at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank who provided some great insights into what they do to help fight food insecurity. Specifically, we spoke with their Income Stability Manager and SNAP Program Coordinator who provided information about the SNAP process. We learned how they help people navigate the SNAP application process and aim to debunk myths associated with the program for any individuals or families who may have questions about it. We learned that they have separate outreach coordinators that reach out to communities and help out with the application process. We’re scheduling the next steps to meet with the outreach coordinators and see how they help people out with the app process.

Observing at the DMV

We saw the PA Department of Motor Vehicles as an exemplary environment where people interact with the government to execute complex, jargon-heavy tasks. Can I get some new plates, sir? A subteam visited two DMV offices for observation purposes and, at one location, one of our teammates applied for his Real ID driver’s license.

While this visit was almost entirely observational, we did come away with two key findings:

1). There was a visually uneasy and unclear presentation of information. We noticed bold lettered security warnings reading “NO CELL PHONE USE IN LOBBY in white text on a red background.

Handmade signs propped up on desks that read “This facility can’t process Real IDs.” These signs led our team member to realize that they needed to visit a different DMV. Prior to visiting this DMV, they were not aware that processing capability differed by location.

The general fuzziness of information displayed was also apparent as we watched people wait for receptionists and employees to give them direction on forms and answer questions.

2) The experiences of both the people waiting and employees helping can be stressful as people waiting sat in rooms full of other people and the demand for help drained already overworked employees. At the second DMV, the credit card processing system crashed, meaning that anyone who didn’t have a physical checkbook or money order couldn’t pay fees associated with their visit and would have to either wait an unknown time or come back. We watched as people waiting were told the news (very matter of factly from a clearly already exasperated but well-meaning DMV worker) and heard members from the crowd groan in frustration. Reactions from people waiting varied. Many quickly got up to leave, hoping to track down a money order from a nearby shop before their number was called.

One man argued with the DMV worker, “You’re telling me that we’ve been waiting for an hour and a half just for this?” to which the worker replied, “What do you want us to do about it?”

In a lose-lose situation, we watched as a lack of empathy on both sides measurably degraded the experiences of everyone in earshot of this heated exchange.

Guerrilla Research at Local Grocery Stores

As part of field research, another small subteam went to Giant Eagle and Whole Foods to conduct guerrilla research — a fast and low-cost way to understand experiences, usually done in public spaces.

As part of this, our loose structure was to introduce ourselves to people waiting outside of these locations, ask if they were willing to talk with us for research about state benefits, and then jump into our short interview protocol, which looked something like this:

• When I say ‘state benefit programs,’ what do you think of?
• Do you know anyone who’s applied for SNAP or other benefits?
• What was the process like for them?
• Where did they start? Did anyone help them?
• What were some of the emotions felt during these experiences?

Our results were pretty surprising, right off the bat. Of the ten or so people we approached over the time that we were at these locations, five gave us insightful glimpses into their experiences as people either currently on or just off of SNAP. It surprised us how people volunteered the information that they were personally part of SNAP when asked if they had ever known anyone who applied for the program.

The reactions to the application process were decidedly mixed. Someone described the process as “easy” where they had never had any problems. Another person found the process overly complex; they saw a lack of guidance in the process said it was “as if it [the system]wa looking for any excuse to freeze your account and prevent you from getting benefits.”

All of the people we talked to were open about their experiences and seemed pretty neutral about their emotional experience.

While there may have been highs and lows in their process — perhaps there was a level of filtering of how much people revealed to the strangers on the street in Carnegie Mellon gear.

We do believe that what the people told us was largely factual and found it curious there was a lack of attachment and emotion shown about the SNAP process.

Going on a Journey

Developing a connection with current applicants

In order to gain a better understanding of the SNAP application and other state benefits, it’s important to connect with people that are actually going through the application process, are currently interested in the application process, or have been through the application process very recently. Thus, we decided to recruit participants from local welfare offices and social security offices. We are currently designing a flyer to be put up at these locations in order to gain traction from interested participants. The flyer will lead interested participants to a screening survey by which we can identify who interesting interviewees may be. The goal of the survey is to help us identify our target end-users and also hopefully get a good balance of the demographics we want to hit (½ male and ½ female, a variety of educational backgrounds, etc.). We aim to interview 10 or more participants from our recruitment efforts in order to better gain a perspective on who our end-user is.

Imagining a journey with our clients

To continue on our journey of building empathy for our target end-users and to better understand the process they go through as they apply to benefits, our team conducted a journey mapping session at our last client meeting.

The journey we recreated was of Susana Rodriguez, a 24-year old woman that is currently unemployed, pregnant and speaks English as a second language. We went through four different stages of the SNAP application process and uncovered actions, thoughts, emotions, tools + resources, and locations associated with each stage.

Here are some guiding questions/thoughts we used to lead through each stage:

Stage 1: Awareness, Discover, and Connection

• How does Susana know that she has a need?
• How does she discover/build awareness of support systems (ex: key contacts, call centers and hotlines, programs, and advocate connection)
• Use of any of the screening tools (official or provided by community-based organizations)

Stage 2: The Application Process

• What does document gathering look like?
• Actually applying to SNAP/going through the application pipeline?
• How does an advocate intervene/get involved in Susana’s application process?
• Where can the application be returned/what does processing look like?
• SNAP office intervention

Stage 3: Post-Application

• The interview process
• Waiting period
• Receipt of decision
• Positive — Receipt of card
• Negative: Reapply? Advocates connect to other resources

Stage 4: Future State / Reapplication

• Having benefits (and using them) vs. understanding why you were denied
• The reapplication process

Some really key insights came out of the process of journey mapping. Specifically, our team began to realize how much community centers and family members are involved in the process, especially upon the discovery of a need or the beginning stages of building awareness around access to state benefits. Additionally, the Department of Human Services is much more involved throughout the entirety of the process than we initially expected. The re-verification process was also something that took us by surprise — the assumption was that when you apply a second time your basic information is stored, however, that is not the case. It was mentioned that sometimes it feels like you’re starting from scratch and often the recertification comes very late, specifically after the recertification deadline itself! These are all things that we would potentially need to take into account when scoping out the use of a screening tool — we are not only dealing with new applications but also re-verification/recertifications.

Up Next:

We are continuing on diving deep with our initial research phase. We will be flyering in the welfare office later this week and in the SS office early next.

On our radar for this week, we are visiting the County Assistance Office Social Welfare Center, the Public Welfare Department, and the Department of Human Services.

Chat with you next time, Humans!

— Laura, Tommy, Simran, Conlon, and Judy