Berit Godfroij, Lenny van Onselen, and Anita Cremers
In solving systemic design challenges, designers co-create with professionals from various fields. In the context of innovation in healthcare practices, this study investigates design abilities that healthcare professionals develop by participating in co-design projects. We conducted a mixed-methods research approach consisting of five retrospective interviews with healthcare researchers involved in co-design projects, and a multiple case study (three cases) on the collaboration between design researchers and healthcare professionals. The three cases all aimed at designing tools for healthcare innovation. The cases differ in healthcare context and the professionals involved: Paediatric physical therapists in the treatment of babies (0-2 years), social workers and healthcare professionals in long-term care for people living with disabilities, and academic researchers in social behavioural sciences and design research developing e-health applications for elderly people with early stages of dementia. In a first round of analysis, we found twenty design abilities, of which most are not different from generic professional competencies: Six out of twenty design abilities are not common for the interviewed healthcare professionals. In line with, literature states that healthcare professionals may be competent in specific abilities related to design. However, they are not trained to shift quickly between competencies, which is essential in design. In a second round of analysing the interview data, we found eight mode-shift practices specific for co-design, of which the interview participants mentioned mode-shift practices related to collaborating and sprinting as typical for co-design. We subsequently investigated the eight mode-shift practices in three cases, in which another 37 professionals were involved. Findings of the case study show that healthcare professionals are able to shift quickly between six of the eight mode-shift practices if they are facilitated in the process. The two mode-shift practices that were more difficult are: ‘Generate – Synthesize’ and ‘Overview – Details’. Related to Rivers of Conversations, this paper makes use of an analogy of wild water kayaking to discuss the two difficult mode-shift practices for healthcare professionals involved in systemic design, and the typical co-design abilities related to collaborating and sprinting.
KEYWORDS: Design ability, Mode-shift practice, Co-design, Healthcare innovation, River
RSD TOPIC(S): Cases & Practice, Health & Well-Being, Methods & Methodology