Digital Health Co-Design
Workshops
Workshop
A workshop is a structured, collaborative session where stakeholders such as patients, carers, and professionals come together to share experiences, identify needs, and generate ideas. In co-design studies, workshops are commonly used in the Discover phase to gather diverse perspectives and co-create design directions.
Application Example
In a study developing the InspireD reminiscence app for people living with dementia and their carers, workshops were used throughout the co-design process as a core research method. These workshops supported user needs exploration, iterative prototype refinement, and final usability testing, ensuring that the intervention was shaped by the voices and experiences of its intended users.
Discover phase
The first workshop focused on understanding participants’ engagement with technology, their prior experiences of using apps, and their needs for a digital reminiscence tool. This early stage helped the research team identify user expectations and set priorities for the app’s design.
Develop phase
In the second workshop, a prototype of the InspireD app was introduced on both a large screen and a tablet. Participants interacted with the app and gave feedback on layout, wording, and usability. These discussions enabled co-creation of design solutions and guided iterative refinements to make the app more accessible and meaningful.
Deliver phase
The third workshop was conducted in a Living Lab environment and focused on usability testing of the app using eye-tracking technology. Participants with dementia and their carers completed tasks while their gaze patterns and prompt frequency were recorded, generating objective data on intuitiveness and usability. (Boyd et al., 2021)