The Social Health Project

As concerns in public healthcare come forward as priorities in British Columbia through observation of data, literature reviews, critical incident or political will (A.KING, PERSONAL COMMUNICATION, FEBRUARY 2015) a designer/design researcher is rarely involved at the forefront of a proposal phase, or early stages of strategy. Instead, design interventions take place when the findings have concluded, and results in visual form need to be communicated to stakeholders (reports, brochures, posters, websites, etc.). This Master of Design Thesis, the Social Health Project (SHP), challenges the traditional health-industry/design relationship, and explores the potential of design-oriented research methods to aid in the development of healthcare services and initiatives. The SHP Draws on research that pinpoints design innovation to be in the centre of three realms: feasibility, viability and desirability (STANFORD D. SCHOOL). Through consultation with healthcare professionals, literature reviews and ethnographic research (feasibility), interviews with caregivers, health professionals and co-creative activities (desirability), the Social Health Project describes a model for designers to use when working within multidisciplinary teams in the field of healthcare. This multidisciplinary approach is vital to the project's goal of a socially innovative system. In prototyping for this project, successful design interventions in healthcare are explained and illustrated, and a framework has been developed for designers to adopt when working in health-service design. A health network that aims to meet the needs of unpaid family caregivers, The Caregiver Access Network (CAN), has been developed using the framework described. A working prototype of the CAN system has been demonstrated with significant detail so it can be easily adopted and adapted by a health authority or other governing body (viability).