We are not alone: AGNES, developing a prototype to support communication between schools and student transgender women

Abstract

Brazilian transgender women face high schools dropout rates in basic education. Brazil has 82% of school dropout rates on transgender women. This situation increases the vulnerability of this population and deepens violence rates against them. This context is influenced by the lack of support within the educational environment, among other factors. Considering that, a prototype for a mobile application named AGNES was designed based on formative research. The goal of this application is to promote a better communication and a sense of community between schools and student transgender women. This article aims to report the process development and usability tests of AGNES. The prototyping process was based on Garrett’s 5-plane framework for user experience product development. Usability and satisfaction parameters were tested in a development cycle. The test was based on a preliminary survey, a Think Aloud protocol, the System Usability Scale (SUS), and an open-ended interview. The results were positive and proved a high usability with the volunteers stating that AGNES is easy to use and would be used frequently. This research project revealed that this public needs a solution to help decrease the school dropout rates. Besides, the volunteers showed satisfaction with this type of solution.