IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v11y2022i9p396-d904585.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Caregiving Journey: Arts-Based Methods as Tools for Participatory Co-Design of Health Technologies

Author

Listed:
  • Evonne Miller

    (QUT Design Lab, Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia)

  • Oksana Zelenko

    (Independent Researcher, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia)

Abstract

Being an informal caregiver to a loved one with an illness, disease, or chronic disability is a rewarding but frequently stressful experience. In this design research project, caregivers participated in a half-day workshop to (1) share their caregiving experience, (2) reflect on the potential of a mobile smartphone ‘app’ for carers and (3) co-design this app, as well as in-depth interviews. Our design research process used multiple arts-based methods, including visual experience mapping tools, storytelling, photo-elicitation, documentary photography, cartoons, drawing, and research poetry, to provide rich and empathic insight into daily life as a caregiver and illuminate the potential of technology. Workshop activities included creating a visual collage of lived experience, annotated visual maps illustrating the reality and misconceptions of caregiving, pathways of care, and mapping a day in their life using the visual metaphor of a clock. Carers then trialled and provided feedback on a prototype app, creating a collective map of desired features. This co-design feedback informed the final app design, which was formally launched at a public exhibition showcasing stories collected from our arts and design-led processes. This paper outlines the value of arts and design methods in the design of future health technologies, which provide a critical space for an informed, reflexive, and empathic dialogue about illness and caregiving, resulting in designs that truly met consumer’s needs.

Suggested Citation

  • Evonne Miller & Oksana Zelenko, 2022. "The Caregiving Journey: Arts-Based Methods as Tools for Participatory Co-Design of Health Technologies," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-15, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:9:p:396-:d:904585
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/9/396/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/9/396/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Evonne Miller, 2023. "Drawing Ageing: Using Participant-Generated Drawing to Explore Older Australians Expectations and Experiences of Ageing in a Retirement Village," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:9:p:396-:d:904585. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.