cHHange - It's Normal

cHHange - It's Normal is an application designed to educate the world about puberty in a personalized, comfortable way.

The problem is that we stigmatize our own bodies. Puberty is a natural process that can be frightening to undergo without proper information, and currently, 50% of girls in just India know nothing about their periods until they start their own. It's not just about girls. 38% of teenage boys report using protein supplements, and nearly 6% admit they have experimented with steroids to feel less insecure. According to a 2019 study by the University of Michigan, nearly 1/3 of teens across the globe use unreliable sources like Facebook for health and puberty information because of insufficient guidance. I conducted my own survey and found that 94.4% of children feel less confident when puberty starts. 88% of parents don't educate their kids about puberty. Some schools teach teenagers about puberty, but a school environment can be uncomfortable and restrictive. When I hit puberty, I myself knew nothing!

This problem is one of the worst hidden and unacknowledged issues in our world, and in the 21st century, we shouldn't have to think of puberty, menstruation, body hair, etc. as taboo. Over half the world is affected by it, and yet we have very few solutions. Children are our future, and if they're busy battling their own insecurities because no one has taught them the truth about puberty, what will our future become?

It's highly strenuous to look for reliable and accurate information on social media and Google due to the abundance of false sources of information and huge number of results. Unfortunately, in most cases, as puberty is so stigmatized, parents and schools tend to introduce puberty, touch upon the topics, and leave it alone for us to ask questions and/or figure it out ourselves. This makes it uncomfortable for us to ask questions and can result in further depression, anxiety, and insecurity.

The puberty-knowledge problem affects all genders, but also all ages. Many adults still hold onto beliefs along the lines of 'Menstruation releases toxic and bad blood,' or 'Nightfall is not normal.'

Bottom line: The problem that I'm trying to solve is that puberty is still stigmatized and considered a taboo topic, hence negatively affecting many people's lives globally. 

My solution is an app, cHHange - It’s Normal, and its purpose is to educate more people about puberty. It's an award-winning app, having received the Grand Prize in Technovation Girls. It targets users above 8, focusing on children, adolescents, and young adults. It has 4 main features: Chat and Chill, Information Lib(rary), Game Time, and Connect.

Upon signing up, a short questionnaire prompts you to enter your gender and age, which customizes your experience. This part uses Airtable to store data.

For Chat and Chill, I created a Dialogflow ES chatbot and inputted questions (question flows) related to puberty and answers that sufficed for all ages. Ask any questions without feeling embarrassed!

The Information Library is completely personalized for the user based on their age and gender. It has images, videos, and text based on what would be relevant to you according to the data collected at the sign-up stage. You can change your preferences in the settings. Rather than spending hours looking for authentic information pertinent to your age and gender, use the app and instantly get the information you need in an organized and comforting manner! This is a great feature that distinguishes my app from competitors. 

Game Time uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning from Teachable Machine, Java from p5.js, the ml5 Machine Learning library, and GitHub. I created a Teachable Machine model using a dependable and diverse image dataset from Kaggle. After coding the game (Match the Emoji), I downloaded my project and set up a GitHub page. I added the link to the game page in my app.

The last main feature, Connect, uses a web viewer linked to a website called Kids Helpline. On Kids Helpline, you can call a hotline to vent or talk, email them, read their stories, etc.

Screenshots:

cHHange - It's Normal's target audience is people over 8 years old. As of now, it primarily focuses on pre-teens, adolescents, and young adults (8-24 years). 

According to a 2019 study by the University of Michigan, nearly 1/3 of teens across the globe use unreliable sources like Facebook for health and puberty information because of insufficient guidance. 88% of parents don't educate their children about puberty. I surveyed a sample of the target audience and found that 83.3% of the potential users feel uncomfortable when talking about puberty because of how taboo it is. 

My app addresses the target audience's needs directly because of these functionalities:

• Completely personalized: Rather than spending hours looking for authentic information pertinent to your age and gender, you can use cHHange - It's Normal and instantly get the relevant information you need in an organized and comforting manner! It is customizable for the age and gender that you want information for.
• Chatbot: Makes the user feel relaxed and comfortable with asking questions. Destigmatizes puberty. Answers questions with carefully crafted responses.
• Information Library: Has all the information the user needs in one place, personalized. Extremely easy to use, neat and navigable UI, caters to both genders and all target ages.
• Game Time: Helps relieve the user of stress, anxiety, or depression, acts as an enjoyable distraction from mood swings and/or personal problems. Mindless fun, helps you understand your moods and maintain a positive outlook, uses interesting technology that can inspire the user to be creative.
• Connect: Allows the user to vent, connect with others their age, get free counselling, read other stories and get inspiration/motivation, relate with others, have a safe space to destress, etc.

Here are some testimonials from my users: Testimonials from experts, professionals, and users

My app is for teens, by a teen! I understand and empathize with the target audience because I'm part of them! I know what potential users are looking for because I'm looking for it too! I am a literal representative of those I serve, and that's how I figured out exactly which needs had to be addressed, and in which ways.

I have exemplary research skills, communication skills, and thinking skills. I applied my creativity, innovative mindset, and critical thinking skills to develop an exceptional, practical, unique, and innovative solution to the puberty-knowledge problem. 

It all started when I went out to play with my friends, who were a year or two older than me. I noticed them being incredibly moody and connected it with the general depiction of teenagers being sulky in cartoons! But I was still curious about why they behaved this way. So, I researched why teenagers were temperamental and ended up learning about puberty. I was surprised that my parents hadn't yet told me all the changes I would go through so soon! I confronted them, and they said they didn't know how to initiate the conversation. When my own development began, I faced many issues because society kept puberty taboo. I did some statistical research and interviewed all the adolescents near me to see what they thought about puberty. The results were shocking. My survey revealed that 94.4% of adolescents like me feel insecure because of the social stigma circulating puberty. I did more research (shared in the problem information and research section) and realized that the puberty knowledge problem was an actual issue that the world barely acknowledged! That’s how the idea to solve this problem was born. I thought, 'Since most people have their own phones and technology now, an app would be the painstakingly perfect magic bullet for this problem.' So, I, in a solo effort, created cHHange - It's Normal to help the world.

My experience and background helped me understand what my potential users face and give me a firsthand perspective on how to solve their problems! 

An international blog post has been written about my journey to create this app. From India: A 12 year-old girl making sure kids learn about puberty | Technovation

Before creating my app, I sent out a Google form to a sample of my target audience/potential users to see what they thought about puberty, the puberty-knowledge problem, and my solution idea. The results were extremely helpful. They drove me in the right direction to ensure that my app would cater to my potential users in the best possible way. Here they are:

I found that the main features users were looking for were Personalization, Chatbot, Information Library, Game Time, Connect, Settings, and navigability. So, I incorporated them.

Before publishing my app, I sent out an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) of my app to some close friends to see their criticism. They suggested changing some dimensions so that the UI would look and feel good on smaller screens, brought to my attention a detrimental sign-up bug, and some other recommendations. I made sure to incorporate their feedback and came up with a great first version!

By involving my potential users, I made the solution that they were looking for, along with more beneficial features from a problem-solver's perspective!

My application clearly stands out. While some apps target this problem, they have one or more restrictions: Only for girls, only for menstruation/periods, only for pregnancy and sex education, only for young children, paid, or only for iOS/Android. My app is for both genders, has all puberty-related information, has a wide target audience, is free to use, is available on Android (soon going to be available on iOS), and also has some fantastic features that no other application has! Here is a competitor analysis table to help visualize where cHHange - It's Normal stands amongst other apps in the market:

As we can clearly see, cHHange - It's Normal is the best solution in the market! It's a unique and innovative idea. There is no other platform that provides the comfort, personalization, experience, and usefulness the way cHHange - It's Normal does. 

An innovative idea transforms the way people think and, thus, shifts how the entire market operates as a result. It also helps to introduce new customers to the market because it profoundly changes the way people live. That's exactly what cHHange - It's Normal has done, is doing, and will continue doing!

My impact goals are to:

• Expedite the process to achieve sustainable development goal 3.7: Sexual and reproductive health. (By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes.)
• Expedite the process to achieve sustainable development goal 4.1: Universal primary and secondary education. (By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes) [Children need to learn the scientific reasons behind puberty rather than the superstitions/myths they are currently taught.]
• Expedite the process to achieve sustainable development goal 4.5: Gender equality and inclusion. (By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.) [This is related because many young ladies (especially in rural areas) drop out of school due to menstruation and superstitions/myths related to it.]

I plan to achieve these goals by spreading my app to more communities and regions that are dealing with these problems in greater severity. 

I also have many future plans for my app, some of them including:

• Connect with hospitals, universities, and organizations to enhance my app's content and scale it.
• Add AI background music based on the user's mood: Whenever you open the app, you will be prompted with a quiz that will use AI to determine your mood, playing the respective background music based on the mood playlists that you pick in the settings. This feature can be toggled on or off in the settings.
• Provide multilingual support.
• Publish to the App Store.
• Perfect the features under development.
• Use usernames instead of email addresses.
• Provide more customization and personalization.
• Create a company that provides puberty services (menstrual hygiene products, puberty guides for both genders, etc.) at low costs across the globe, and make the stores accessible from the app.
• Add more fun features to the game like leaderboards and challenges.

Here's a demo video: Demo Video

I made the app on Thunkable. But I made some features on external platforms and integrated them with Thunkable.

Overview of technologies used:

The sign-up screen uses Firebase to authenticate users and register their email IDs. It uses Airtable to store your age and gender preferences. When a user signs up, a new row is made with your unique email address, and attached to that unique address are your age and gender. (Airtable and Firebase are both directly integrated with my Thunkable project.) I plan to switch from email addresses to usernames in the future so that the user has more privacy. Both Firebase and Airtable databases are only available to me, and if you wish to delete your account, you can send me a mail at my email address: anikajhaa8@gmail.com

August the chatbot (in Chat and Chill) is created with Dialogflow ES. Dialogflow interprets user inputs with its training and AI&ML algorithms and figures out the user's intent. It also incorporates complex question flows by asking the user more questions and deciding on a response based on their answer. (The chatbot is shown in my app by using Thunkable's web viewer component.) For example: The user types "Tell me about puberty." Dialogflow connects this to the intent "What is puberty?" Then, it responds with a question. "Don't worry. Let me explain. Are you a boy or a girl?" The user responds with "male." Dialogflow recognizes this and gives information about puberty for boys.

Your configuration of age and gender determines what you can read and see in the Information Library. I manually researched information from trusted and expert-verified websites for girls and boys. Then, I segregated the data for different age groups. Finally, I searched for relevant images and videos. Based on the values in the Airtable row, different information is displayed. For girls, one of the sections is menstruation, whereas for boys, the section is replaced with wet dreams. 

For the Match the Emoji game, I used Java (on p5.js), the ml5 machine
learning library, the Teachable Machine image model that I created and trained, and GitHub. I created a Teachable Machine model using a dependable and diverse image dataset from Kaggle. It currently has 5 classes for 5 different emojis/emotions: Happy, Sad, Surprised, Neutral, and Angry. I connected my model with p5.js using ml5 so that I could get the responses from the picture that the user takes. You need to try to make the same expression as the emoji. The accuracy results are actually the computer confidence, which is also extracted from the Teachable Machine model using ml5. I uploaded the p5.js project on GitHub so that I could set up a page, as the p5.js shareable link wasn't as fast as the GitHub page link. Then, I added the link to my GitHub page in Thunkable.

The Connect section simply uses Thunkable's web viewer to show the Kids Helpline website.

The other features of my app use basic Thunkable code (Settings, Tutorial, About Me, Contact).

My solution is currently being used by approximately 200 people/families in India, United States, Nigeria, United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, Australia, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Jordan, Papua New Guinea, and Zambia.

By next year, I plan to serve around 1500 people. In the long run, this exponential growth will lead to 15000 people in the next year, 150000 people in the year after that, 1.5 million people in the year after that, and so on. Around 1.3 billion people in the world are adolescents, of which at least 500 million will be directly benefited by my solution. So, my app has a lot of potential.

• My app, as of now, is only available on the PlayStore for Android users. So, those in my target audience who have iOS devices cannot access my app. I've tried publishing it on the Apple Store, but there's a technical barrier that's not allowing me to do so. It will soon be resolved, but in the meantime, I need to ensure that my app reaches as many people as possible.
• As my app is a non-profit, it will be difficult to obtain profits. Therefore, I will need to set up a donation page so that I can implement my future features.
• I need to strengthen my app's security.

As of now, I am not collaborating with any organizations, but I am connected with several experienced professionals and experts in the field(s). They have provided their testimonials: Testimonials from experts, professionals, and users

Here are my app's social media pages:

Instagram: cHHange - It's Normal on Instagram

Twitter: cHHange - It's Normal on Twitter

Facebook: cHHange - It's Normal on Facebook

My app, cHHange - It's Normal, is a social service with the impact to provide education and knowledge about puberty to everyone, including the less-educated and underprivileged community, such as those in tribal, hilly, and village areas. I aim to break the taboo on puberty amongst all adolescents globally. By spreading cHHange - It's Normal in the far corners of the globe (such as tribal, hilly, and village areas, where there is a lack of proper school education, college, and necessary facilities, and to anyone who needs the solution) I can solve the puberty-knowledge problem.

My app provides 4 main services to my customers through the app, along with personalization based on their age and gender at birth. Here are the benefits they can enjoy for each feature/service:

• Completely personalized: Rather than spending hours looking for authentic information pertinent to your age and gender, you can use cHHange - It's Normal and instantly get the relevant information you need in an organized and comforting manner! It is customizable for the age and gender that you want information for.
• Chatbot: Makes the user feel relaxed and comfortable with asking questions. Destigmatizes puberty. Answers questions with carefully crafted responses.
• Information Library: Has all the information the user needs in one place, personalized. Extremely easy to use, user-friendly and intuitive UI, caters to both genders and all target ages.
• Game Time: Helps relieve the user of stress, anxiety, or depression, acts as an enjoyable distraction from mood swings and/or personal problems. Mindless fun, helps you understand your moods and maintain a positive outlook, uses interesting technology that can inspire the user to be creative.
• Connect: Allows the user to vent, connect with others their age, get free counseling, read other stories and get inspiration/motivation, relate with others, have a safe space to destress, etc.

When conducting user research, I found that 94.4% of potential users looked forward to an Information Library and Chatbot feature, along with 77.8% wanting a Game Time and Connect feature. 100% wanted personalization and navigability. They wanted these particular features as they served their needs: Easily accessible, authentic, personalized information, a place to ask any questions, a way to have mindless fun and feel better, and a place to relate and connect with others about puberty without feeling uncomfortable.

cHHange - It's Normal, my solution, provides necessary education about puberty to all communities across the globe. 

As it grows and reaches more regions, I will start traveling to places like tribal, hilly, and village areas (underprivileged communities), and also educational institutes (middle & high schools, colleges) and giving seminars on puberty and hygiene. 

I will connect with doctors, hospitals, and universities to ensure that my app's content is up to date and fits the age categories. Our collaboration will also result in more inclusivity in my app. For example, creating different content to help autistic children understand puberty.

I will also connect with municipality officers and companies providing hygiene products to help make low-cost hygiene products available in underprivileged/rural communities.

Additionally, I will need funds to strengthen the security infrastructure of my application and for the marketing of my app.

As my solution is a social service, I will bring in money to fund my work through sponsors, non-harmful in-app advertisements, donations, and grants. So far, I have spent $225 on my app from my pocket to get it onto the PlayStore and App Store (verification pending). But cHHange - It's Normal has been recognized as the Grand Prize Winner of another contest, Technovation Girls, and has gotten a cash prize of $500. This will not be enough to fund all my work, but with sponsors, non-harmful in-app advertisements, donations, and grants, it will cover most of my expected expenses.