Developing Co-Design Kits for Family Caregivers in an Inpatient Setting
Family caregivers provide care for their friends or family with disabling conditions without getting paid. However, unlike healthcare professionals, caregivers are not necessarily formally trained to carry out their caregiving responsibilities, and they are often obligated to perform as a caregiver when their patients are given a diagnosis of a chronic condition. This frequent severe changes in the caregivers’ life circumstances and the lack of training they received often create rising levels of anxiety and stress. Co-design strategy has been recognized as an effective way to gather inputs about the participants’ daily experiences, and few studies have highlighted the roles of caregivers and patients in designing interventions through technologies. Taking into account the value of supporting caregivers, and the value of including the caregivers in the design process, family caregivers were invited to co-design the supportive design solutions through a participatory design kit that we will develop. We developed co-design kits for family caregivers to better express their knowledge and experiences acquired from their caregiving experiences. We also conducted Zoom user tests with family caregivers whose patients underwent bone marrow transplant, and explored their perceptions towards the co-design kits we developed. We discuss implications for future co-design practices in the context of chronic conditions.