Black Students Belong Here: An Equity-Focused Human-Centered Design Approach to Developing a School Connectedness Intervention

Black adolescents are facing rising rates of depression, suicide attempts, and death by suicide. These mental health concerns are exacerbated by barriers to quality services, stigma, and systemic racial oppression. Although school connectedness scores as a critical protective factor against negative emotional and behavioral outcomes, Black students report feeling more disconnected from school than their peers, emphasizing a need for effective interventions. This case study explored how an equity-focused human-centered design approach to intervention development can be used within school contexts through engagement in the initial phases of the process to codesign a school connectedness intervention. The study’s primary aim was to codesign a positive youth development intervention to be embedded within a structured design thinking curriculum to support school connectedness and promote mental well-being in minoritized students. Research questions examined how the design team defined the problem and explored team member experiences and perceptions throughout the human-centered design process. Findings from the case study highlighted current supports, including positive relationships, shared cultural identity, and supportive leadership, and barriers, such as lack of mutual respect and teacher and peer bias, to school connectedness and intervention development in schools. Design workshop outcomes identified key programming features to consider for intervention development, including format and scheduling options and opportunities for structured skill application. Transcripts were analyzed for features of psychological safety and equity during the design workshops. Participants demonstrated signs of psychological safety, including acknowledging contributions of others, voicing concerns, and acknowledging implicit biases. Features of equity that emerged during analysis include discussions related to opportunity gaps, mitigating biases, and critiquing privileged systems. The present case study serves as a proof of concept of using human-centered design as a n approach for intervention development in schools. Study limitations and implications for using human centered design in research and practice, as well as implications related to the present intervention, are discussed.