Experience-Based Co-Design enriched by Sensemaking and Value Generation through Probing: A Case Study in a Danish Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

To bring power to patients’ and healthcare staff’s voice, experience-based co-design (EBCD) is used to improve healthcare settings ranging from emergency medicine, cancer services, paediatrics to mental health. The cyclical method is based on a set of six to eight pre-defined steps that collect service experiences from stakeholders and turns them into prioritized areas for advance. This study gives insight into an EBCD-inspired case study in the context of a Danish Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The outcome of this case is a kit for peer-to-peer support which may enhance the well-being of parents with premature born babies – and as a consequence their overall service experience at the ward. By comparing this EBCD-inspired case with the process and methods actually used in the project, this paper gives insight into a possibly more designerly-led approach to EBCD. By using a three-stage process of (1) Interviews and participant observation, (2) Generative design research and (3) Design phase it puts an emphasis on ‘sensemaking’ and ‘value generation through probing’ for possibly enriching EBCD: In this case, the first one means an exploration of what it means
to become a parent within these circumstances and the second one is the use of research-through design/probing as a way to investigate relationships, emotions, friendship and privacy to inform peer-to-peer support.