VITAL study phase 2: Interactive care plan

Phase 2: Designing and evaluating prototypes for an interactive care plan

Our methods

In phase 2, the VITAL study will establish design groups that includes system developers and end users—i.e., patients and providers. Building on the patient needs, preferences, and capabilities identified in phase 1, the team will engage the design groups in three iterative participatory design rounds to:

1. explore design options;
2. collaboratively develop prototype options; and
3. identify 1–2 candidate prototypes.

The goal of phase 2 isn’t necessarily to create a fully functioning system, but rather to clarify users’ needs in the context of daily life. Our work in phase 1 will help us address a key challenge for participatory design: how to elicit end-user values. Through the participatory design process in phase 2, we hope to achieve a good match between system specifications and what matters most to patients.

Phase 2 will also include an evaluation of the participatory design methods we used—both in the context of their utility for this study and in future chronic care redesign projects. Many methods have been developed to elicit user values, including ethnographic observation, interviews, surveys, and self-reflection methods. Each has strengths and weaknesses, and many methods are typically used in combination—but their effectiveness is rarely evaluated. The VITAL study will delve into new territory by evaluating the efficacy of the methods we use to engage patients and providers in participatory design within the chronic care domain.

Our findings so far

Check back soon for the first of our papers on phase 2 of the VITAL study.