Better Back

The Better Back project - a collaboration between the Experience Labs, Active X Backs and the University of Edinburgh - used a design innovation approach to investigate ways to enhance the lives of people with lower back pain, and to assist clinicians in improving advice given to patients. Based on extensive research undertaken by the project partner, Gavin Routledge of Active X Backs and Dr Claudia Pagliari of the University of Edinburgh, it was evident that there is a lack of effective solutions for people suffering from lower back pain. The condition is the single largest cause of disability and causes the UK billions of pounds in lost production every year. The insights gained helped to identify existing gaps and barriers. A series of Experience Labs were designed using a design innovation process including problem identification; the development of user journeys; and prototyping, in order to define and develop various elements of the required user experience. These sessions allowed the team to gather insights from patients and clinicians. The team then refined and developed the ideas generated, ensuring that the resulting solution is grounded in patients’ needs. The project was driven by two complementary practices: exploratory co-design sessions with sufferers of lower back pain and the project partners; and the team’s own design research and concept development. A key part of the project was the creation of a prototype, which participants were able to test and provide feedback on during the third Experience Lab. Based on the findings from the Labs, a number of areas were identified as suitable for further research and development, including: creation of an integrated system that learns and adapts; wearable sensors; ideas for the user interface; and a system that provides feedback

Well Connected Blood Donation

This collaboration between the Experience Labs and the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) aimed to identify routes by which the SNBTS User Experience could be enhanced by introducing new ways of interaction for its staff and blood donors. A People-Centred Design Innovation approach was used to facilitate processes of co-enquiry and produce a proposed idea. The project involved three Labs with SNBTS staff during 2016, as well as design team synthesis sessions. Labs were designed around the design innovation process: problem identification; the development of user journeys; and prototyping practices; in order to define and develop elements of the desired user experience. The starting point was the desire to improve the staff resource, known as “The Browser”, which is primarily used to determine a donor’s eligibility to donate. Working closely with the SNBTS Blood Donation Teams helped the Experience Lab team to identify key issues in the blood donation system; to create an in-depth understanding of the pain points; and to understand the different ways staff use the existing digital system, its shortcomings, and how it ties into other parts of the blood donation process and SNBTS. This process created the required thinking space to generate and develop new ideas and solutions towards the creation of a “Well-Connected Blood Donation Experience” and an enhanced donation model for staff and donors. Consideration of the resulting design opportunities led to a development strategy that proposed the SNBTS tackle the identified issues on two fronts. Firstly, immediate alterations that could be made to the existing digital system to address issues raised by staff in the short term. Secondly, that the SNBTS could extend the Donor Portal under development to an integrated solution for staff and donors centred around three core concepts: Digital Donor ID, Interactive Maps and a Responsive DSR (Donor Session Record) to create a seamless donor and staff experience

Digital Diabetes

The Digital Diabetes programme is a portfolio of seven promising innovation projects funded by the Digital Health & Care Institute (DHI) aiming to support engagement in self-management of diabetes.  Experience Labs were developed by the Institute of Design Innovation at The Glasgow School of Art, aiming to offer a safe and creative environment where researchers, businesses, civic partners and service users can collaborate on innovative solutions to the health and care challenges facing our society.  The aim of the Digital Diabetes Experience Labs was to bring together people living with diabetes, carers, clinicians and representatives from the voluntary sector to understand how people would like to be supported to engage in self-management. Three Experience Labs were designed and facilitated by the Experience Lab Team, involving: people living with diabetes in rural locations (Lab 1: Inverness), people living with diabetes in urban locations and carers (Lab 2: Glasgow), and health professionals and representatives from the third sector who support people living with diabetes (Lab 3: Perth).  The Lab findings are presented as a model of diabetes self-management, describing the key factors that determine how well someone will engage in self-management, and the people and things that support them.  Factors include the person’s attitude towards diabetes and the relative importance it has in their life and access to personal insight about their condition. Opportunities for new digital tools to support personal insight and positive attitudes towards diabetes were identified. Insightful and motivating conversations with trusted health professionals and their community (including peers and support organisations) were seen as key to supporting engagement in self-management. Further findings relate to the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, in particular the need for short term insight to improve control of type 1, in contrast with the need for insight to relate short term decisions to longer term consequences for people living with type 2.  Three key opportunities for design innovation to support diabetes self-management were identified: i) tools to generate personal insight including visual presentation of data; ii) tools to support insightful and motivational conversations; and iii) tools to give feedback on progress

Digital Diabetes Dudes

The Dudes project explored young people’s experiences of living with diabetes and how they would like to be supported in self-management using digital resources. In the early stages of development, Dudes is an interactive online education site for young people living with type 1 diabetes, situated within My Diabetes My Way. Dudes aims to support young people aged 17-25 years to understand selfmanagement for their lifestyle, and has been developed by a collaborative team from Edinburgh Napier University, NHS Lothian and the University of Dundee. It was accepted by the Digital Health & Care Institute as part of an integrated ‘Digital Diabetes’ programme of projects seeking to develop digital resources to support self-management. The Dudes Experience Lab took place in November 2016, following Pre- and General Labs exploring themes and questions that cut across the projects in the Digital Diabetes programme (commenced November 2015). This report describes the Experience Lab activity for the Dudes project and a detailed set of findings. It begins by providing project background and aims, and summarises the relevant findings of the Preand General Labs (described in full in previous reports). The findings are mapped onto the objectives of the Dudes project, presenting a detailed discussion of the current experiences of young people, in terms of the insights, attitudes and actions that relate to self-management. Feedback on existing resources for young people are presented, and information gaps and opportunities are identified. Finally, the report presents design requirements, concepts and scenarios of use for the enriched young person’s zone, and the conclusions of the Experience Lab Team

Digital Diabetes Dashboard

The Digital Dashboard Experience Lab project explored what information is meaningful to share in a virtual consultation between a health professional and a person living with diabetes, and developed ideas for digital tools to support this experience. The project was proposed by partners at the University of the Highlands and Islands and NHS Highland, who are trialling video conferencing (VC) technology within virtual diabetes clinics to overcome increasing demand on the service and reduce travel burdens. The concept for the Dashboard emerged in response to challenges experienced in collaboratively discussing diabetes data during the virtual consultation. The project proposal was accepted by the Digital Health & Care Institute as part of an integrated ‘Digital Diabetes’ programme of projects seeking to develop digital resources to support self-management. The Digital Dashboard Experience Lab took place in December 2016, following Pre- and General Labs, which explored themes and questions that cut across the projects in the Digital Diabetes programme (commenced November 2015). This report describes the Experience Lab activity for the Digital Dashboard project and presents a detailed set of findings. It begins by providing project background and aims, and summarises the relevant findings of the Pre- and General Labs (described in full in previous reports). Three overarching themes emerged: Empowerment and Readiness, Equity and Collaboration, and Timeliness of Information and Insight; offering insight into the current consultation from the perspectives of both people living with diabetes and health professionals. These insights and ideas are mapped onto the Before, During and After stages of a virtual consultation, offering recommendations for the design of digital tools and content to support meaningful and personcentred consultations. The report sets out a concept for the ideal Digital Dashboard and explains its use throughout the virtual consultation. Finally, conclusions are presented, and next steps for the development of the Digital Dashboard are discussed

Digital Diabetes IDDEAS and GDS

The IDDEAS and GDS projects seek to develop innovative new resources for My Diabetes My Way* (MDMW) to support people living with diabetes to gain insight from health and lifestyle data to improve self-management. The IDDEAS and GDS projects were proposed by the Clinical and Technical Leads from the MDMW team, both based at the University of Dundee. The projects were accepted by the Digital Health & Care Institute as part of an integrated ‘Digital Diabetes’ programme of seven projects seeking to develop digital resources to support selfmanagement. The IDDEAS project aims to enable communication and data transfer between NHS Scotland diabetes platforms (MDMW and SCI-Diabetes) and third party and commercial products. This would give patients choice in terms of the application(s) they use to meet their needs. The GDS project aims to develop automated algorithms to analyse data obtained from home blood glucose monitoring and trigger automated clinical decision alerts and feedback for healthcare professionals and patients (via SMS) based on patterns in glucose readings. The technical aspects of the IDDEAS and GDS projects are being developed within DHI Factory projects. The Experience Lab Team were tasked with working with the intended end users to understand how they would like to collect, share, see and use their health and lifestyle data within MDMW, and understand the acceptability of the proposed innovations and how they could best support self-management. Experience Lab activity for these projects began with Pre-Labs in late 2015, and developed through General Labs in 2016, culminating in a dedicated Niche Lab in early 2017

Digital Diabetes

The Digital Diabetes programme is a portfolio of seven promising innovation projects funded by the Digital Health & Care Institute (DHI) aiming to support engagement in self-management of diabetes. Experience Labs were developed by the Institute of Design Innovation at The Glasgow School of Art, aiming to offer a safe and creative environment where researchers, businesses, civic partners and service users can collaborate on innovative solutions to the health and care challenges facing our society. The aim of the Digital Diabetes Experience Labs was to bring together people living with diabetes, carers, clinicians and representatives from the voluntary sector to understand how people would like to be supported to engage in self-management. Three Experience Labs were designed and facilitated by the Experience Lab Team, involving: people living with diabetes in rural locations (Lab 1: Inverness), people living with diabetes in urban locations and carers (Lab 2: Glasgow), and health professionals and representatives from the third sector who support people living with diabetes (Lab 3: Perth). The Lab findings are presented as a model of diabetes self-management, describing the key factors that determine how well someone will engage in self-management, and the people and things that support them. Factors include the person’s attitude towards diabetes and the relative importance it has in their life and access to personal insight about their condition. Opportunities for new digital tools to support personal insight and positive attitudes towards diabetes were identified. Insightful and motivating conversations with trusted health professionals and their community (including peers and support organisations) were seen as key to supporting engagement in self-management. Further findings relate to the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, in particular the need for short term insight to improve control of type 1, in contrast with the need for insight to relate short term decisions to longer term consequences for people living with type 2. Three key opportunities for design innovation to support diabetes self-management were identified: i) tools to generate personal insight including visual presentation of data; ii) tools to support insightful and motivational conversations; and iii) tools to give feedback on progress