Using a bespoke situated digital kiosk to encourage user participation in healthcare environment design

J Mackrill,P Marshall,S.R Payne,E Dimitrokali,R Cain

doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2016.08.005

Abstract

Involving users through participation in healthcare service and environment design is growing. Existing approaches and toolkits for practitioners and researchers are often paper based involving workshops and other more traditional design approaches such as paper prototyping. The advent of digital technology provides the opportunity to explore new platforms for user participation. This paper presents results from three studies that used a bespoke situated user participation digital kiosk, engaging 33 users in investigating healthcare environment design. The studies, from primary and secondary care settings, allowed participant feedback on each environment and proved a novel, engaging “21st century” way to participate in the appraisal of the design process. The results point toward this as an exciting and growing area of research in developing not just a new method of user participation but also the technology that supports it. Limitations were noted in terms of data validity and engagement with the device. To guide the development of user participation using similar situated digital devices, key lessons and reflections are presented.

Highlights

Improving patient and staff experience of healthcare services and environments has become commonplace in both research and policy (Bate and Robert, 2006, 2007; Hasvold and Scholl, 2011; Span et al, 2013; Couter et al, 2009)
Twenty-two units were unusable with inputs unrelated to the tasks 36 units of data were used for analysis
Results formed the basis of a design recommendation guide

Summary

Introduction

Improving patient and staff experience of healthcare services and environments has become commonplace in both research and policy (Bate and Robert, 2006, 2007; Hasvold and Scholl, 2011; Span et al, 2013; Couter et al, 2009) These improvements have involved different stakeholders in on-going discourse about personal experiences of healthcare as well as how services and environments might be improved. Involving the user through participatory methods such as participatory design/ergonomics, co-design, experience-based design, cooperative design, and action research aim to remove traditional barriers between researchers, designers and users in the design of systems, environments and technology These methodologies generally evaluate people's tacit knowledge for understanding experiences and developing artefacts, systems, or new ways of working (Spinuzzi, 2005) within a specific context (Halloran et al, 2009). These methodologies generally evaluate people's tacit knowledge for understanding experiences and developing artefacts, systems, or new ways of working (Spinuzzi, 2005) within a specific context (Halloran et al, 2009). Vink et al (2008) remark that is through these processes that the context (through understanding a group's norms, language and concerns of the different actors) is critical to successful design interventions

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion