Barriers to Engagement: Time, Technical Difficulties, and Lack of Relatability
’d
HOLIDAYS
Barriers to program engagement can be divided into 3 categories: lack of time, technical difficulties, and the limited relatability of a cisgender White male teacher. Concerning time, participants reported that contracting COVID-19, childcare, holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas), and overall busy schedules limited their ability to engage. Technical difficulties were described as glitches in the app, such as repeating education modules and difficulty navigating modules:I think just really busy schedule. And my schedule changes every day so it’s not like I have set days or set times every day that I know I’m going to have flexible. So, I think it’s a lot of just like trying to schedule. I had a couple of issues with the videos where on a couple of particular days it didn’t seem to go to the next one. I’d open the app the next day and it would still say the previous day’s ones. I tried to figure out what I did, if I didn’t close it outright or if it didn’t finish all the way to the very end. I let them play all the way through. The strongest feedback was from 5 participants regarding the lack of relatability of a White male facilitator. Participants felt that a cisgender White male teacher was not representative of not just their sexuality and gender but also the range of body types of those using the app. Some participants indicated that although the teacher seemed kind, they felt that they could not relate to the issues they would face in their daily life:That was like a little challenging. I wish there were different people, a variety of people who had all different kinds of bodies, and were just more reflective of what that the people using the app might look like and sound like and be like. Or if those perspectives could be incorporated in some way. I think, also, it’s hard for me as a queer woman to relate to the guy who’s like teaching the modules as they are an older, fit person. It was very engaging and there’s nothing wrong ... I don’t have any criticisms of him, but I think there’s something in my head that was stopping me from fully getting into it and relating. There was kind of a bit of disconnect and a bit of suspicion, and I guess that held me back a little bit. 