Try to see it my way: exploring the co-design of visual presentations of wellbeing through a workshop process

Abstract

Aims: A 10-month project funded by the NewMind network sought to develop the specification of a visualisation toolbox that could be applied on digital platforms (web- or app-based) to support adults with lived experience of mental health difficulties to present and track their personal wellbeing in a multi-media format. Methods: A participant co-design methodology, Double Diamond from the Design Council (Great Britain), was used consisting of four phases: Discover – a set of literature and app searches of wellbeing and health visualisation material; Define – an initial workshop with participants with lived experience of mental health problems to discuss wellbeing and visualisation techniques and to share personal visualisations; Develop – a second workshop to add detail to personal visualisations, for example, forms of media to be employed, degree of control over sharing; and Deliver – to disseminate the learning from the exercise. Results: Two design workshops were held in December 2017 and April 2018 with 13 and 12 experts-by-experience involved, respectively, including two peer researchers (co-authors) and two individual-carer dyads in each workshop, with over 50% of those being present in both workshops. A total of 20 detailed visualisations were produced, the majority focusing on highly personal and detailed presentations of wellbeing. Discussion: While participants concurred on a range of typical dimensions of wellbeing, the individual visualisations generated were in contrast to the techniques currently employed by existing digital wellbeing apps and there was a great diversity in preference for different visualisation types. Participants considered personal visualisations to be useful as self-administered interventions or as a step towards seeking help, as well as being tools for self-appraisal. Conclusion: The results suggest that an authoring approach using existing apps may provide the high degree of flexibility required. Training on such tools, delivered via a module on a recovery college course, could be offered.

Ensuring patient and public involvement in the transition to AI‐assisted mental health care: A systematic scoping review and agenda for design justice

“…These approaches have mainly been used to access patient and public perspectives and use them in a manageable way to inform design practices, for example statistics, stories, vignettes and case studies. Many studies indicated that direct public involvement in decisions about technological design can drive innovation while offering a moral means of patient empowerment 54,62‐76 …”

Participatory co-design and normalisation process theory with staff and patients to implement digital ways of working into routine care: the example of electronic patient-reported outcomes in UK renal services

“…It was developed specifically in the context of technology, to enable users to future forecast their experiences with a new technology in a formative design stage, to collectively propose solutions to improve use in practice [17]. Participatory co-design involves the use of typically visual or narrative methods to better understand the needs and circumstances of the end user [18] and rapid prototyping processes to critique assumptions and propose solutions [19]. It has been used with both patients and professionals to propose solutions to complex healthcare problems [20].…”

Potential of using visual imagery to revolutionise measurement of emotional health

“…Craven et al ,9 as part of a study exploring representations of well-being in adult mental health, reviewed the literature to highlight the range of pictorial scales, symbolic, metaphorical and other sensorial representations of well-being (eg, gestural, textural/tactile or thermal) either in use or suggested by researchers or practitioners. The review also cited coproduction with young people, such as the set of 12 emojis selected and deployed in the Power Up app study 10.…”

“…Furthermore, the review identified a recent mental health app, MentalSnapp, using video and highlighted the increased availability of tools to create personalised animations in social media such as BitMoji . In the study of Craven et al ,9 when prompted to do so in a workshop setting, people with lived experience of mental health difficulties created very personal visualisations that could not readily be expressed by graphs/scales (figure 1). They articulated variation in their state of well-being with a variety of audiovisual elements such as colour saturation, speed of movement or loudness, and with changing metaphorical representations such as growth of a flower in the sun and rain versus a drooping or dying one, or increasing distance from a problem through a door.…”

“…One participant created a set of 15 graphical emotion cards so they could pick an appropriate one, depending on their mood with pictures, alongside text descriptions, to show head in hands, worry lines, sweating and dancing (figure 1). Craven et al 9 concluded from their study that visualisations already available in digital health apps were not rich enough to adequately represent emotional health, thus further arguing the case for innovations in the usage of visual imagery.…”