How to involve potential users in eHealth innovation: seven strategies from healthcare and design

Abstract

To arrive at viable eHealth applications, it is important that future users are involved in research projects. In practice, however, it is difficult to involve potential users and keep them involved. In a multiple-case study, we investigate ten eHealth projects in which design researchers and healthcare researchers worked together. We focus on how they involved potential users and kept them involved. Both domains have a rich tradition of involving potential users and see their involvement of potential (future) users in the early stages of innovation as essential. Therefore it is interesting to investigate projects in which design researchers and healthcare researchers intensively work together. We discovered seven strategies to promote the involvement of potential users in eHealth research projects: (1) use research methods based on building personal relationships; (2) build trust before introducing research methods; (3) facilitate the preconditions around the moments of involvement; (4) facilitate by introducing a prototype as a boundary object; (5) choose the method that fits the research context; (6) integrate the values behind the eHealth tool into the research method; (7) involve proxies instead of the potential users. These strategies may guide future projects where design researchers and healthcare researchers work together with potential users.