Stay Safe endeavors to develop a new culture into
the VCH setting, a culture devoted to creating a sense
of community, respect, safety and wellness.

already trusted by teens, Truth was able
to better understand their audience.
Researchers examined teen psyche as it
related to smoking, and began to under-
stand that the main issue driving this
behavior is not that teens are uneducated
regarding the dangers of smoking, but
rather that the act of smoking is an act of
rebellion and a symbol of control [3]. The
resulting campaign’s messaging empha-
sized that: “it’s not about anti-smoking, or
pro-smoking, it’s about the manipulation
of the tobacco industry.” Addressing the
rebellious attitude that leads to smoking,
the campaign exposed the tobacco indus-
try as manipulative and controlling, show-
ing that smoking is just another act of
following orders.

IDEO’s human-centred design tool-
kit provided a theoretical and practical
understanding of approaches to gather-
ing vital information through our primary
research [4]. The toolkit introduced us
to step-by-step examples of co-creation
techniques and empathetic thinking in
working with their audiences.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

Our primary research began with job
shadowing, which took place at two dif-
ferent extended care facilities. Immersing
ourselves in these work environments not
only helped the team to learn about the
problem from a much closer perspective,
but also allowed us to learn more about
the tasks performed by RCAs. This experi-
ence proved helpful during the co-creation
session, as the team was well-versed

in the various tasks asked of RCAs and
was therefore able to converse with par-
ticipants on a more educated level. This
first-hand understanding of the daily
workflow was a great advantage in all
stages of the process, and guided most
design decisions.

We hosted a co-creation session at
Emily Carr, a neutral environment in
which all participants felt comfortable
voicing their opinions and concerns.

RIGHT
The rca’s bulletin board promotes a peer-to-peer
education system by sharing safety tips with

colleagues and generating a sense of community.

Opening up the session with an icebreaker
game helped engage participants with one
another, and built a certain level of trust
between the RCAs and our team. Three
activities followed, each addressing a
different area we wanted to learn more
about. Through a mood board exercise,
we were able to better understand the
emotional side of an RCA’s work. The sec-
ond activity was a questionnaire intended
to reveal preferred communication modes
and devices. Early on the process we had
considered designing an app but the audit
taken during this session showed that
most of the RCAs present felt uncomfort-
able with this technology. Many of our
assumptions were challenged during the
co-creation activities, leaving us with a
new understanding of the problem space.
The final activity was a timeline that
mapped out typical emotions felt during
a shift; this helped us understand at
which points in a shift RcAs felt the most
stressed versus the happiest. The map-
ping became a guide for selecting when
and where to interject our final designs.
Following the co-creation session, we
explored many new ideas and once we had
a few design directions, we hosted a user-
testing session, again at Emily Carr. Many
of our previous participants returned for

health design - 11

the follow-up session and acted as ses-
sion leaders. We gained feedback on the
potential directions, both in terms of visu-
als and content. The RcAs engaged in the
activities promoted by our designs and
provided feedback regarding the expe-
rience. This session was a turning-point

in our designs, and from it we gained a
much more refined visual direction.

FINAL DESIGN

From our primary and secondary research,
we developed the concept of Stay Safe, a
behaviour change campaign developed

to help strengthen community, wellness,
and conversation in order to improve
overall safety at VCH residential care
facilities. Stay Safe endeavors to develop
anew culture into the VCH setting, a
culture devoted to creating a sense of
community, respect, safety and wellness
for all involved with residential extended
care. As many individuals make up vcH,
Stay Safe promotes the development

of connections between staff and sees
potential in building a learning commu-
nity. Through the building of friendships,
support, respect and wellness, a facility

as a whole can become stronger. Multi-
level involvement in this campaign, and
not just management, would be necessary

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CARE TIPS