F E AT U R E
Putting Co-Design into Service Design–the AT Navigation Program Kathleen Martinez, Occupational Therapist and AT Peer Support Lead AT Chat, Independent Living Assessment (ILA)
H
aving worked in caring, education, support coordination, and therapy service roles over the past 10 years, I have seen the wealth of knowledge a person with lived experience can bring to the table when it comes to service design. The role of ‘service design’ and ‘co-design’ can be traced back to 1970, and has gained momentum over the past 10 years, with the variety of service design education programs increasing1. Co-design is often viewed as a ladder of participation of how consumers are involved in the design of a service or product.1 Consumer involvement is transforming from being ‘informed’ and ‘consulted’ to more active roles of ‘co-design’, ‘co-production’ and ‘co-delivery’ of the service.
Of course, it is not as black and white as that, especially with changes to serviceprovider operations, and government policies and funding. In these cases, practitioners can feel like bystanders, with many factors beyond their control. So what can we do about it? We can implement and advocate for co-design, to improve the experiences of service users and understand the services themselves.
Co-Design with AT Chat
Co-Design and OT Practice
AT Chat, an initiative of ILA, is a peer-led, co-designed online community for assistivetechnology (AT) users. AT Chat’s mission is to share the lived experience and knowledge of AT users with the wider AT community through peer support, so individuals can become confident and capable to make AT decisions to ‘Live, Play and Work!’
The underpinnings of co-design strongly resonate with occupational therapy teachings. Working from a strengthsbased model focused on building capacity, occupational therapists explore the barriers and facilitators that service users encounter in their daily life–and then work with them to create strategies, interventions, and evaluation reviews that help them progress towards achieving their goals. And then the whole process starts again.
Thanks to an NDIS Information, Linkages and Capacity Building Grant, and a passionate community of AT users, AT Chat wanted to include AT users, experts, practitioners, and the wider AT community in the design, development, and review of its service offerings to ensure it discovered ‘what good looks like’. To achieve this vision, the Living Labs co-design methodology of exploration, experimentation, and evaluation was applied to get the best possible outcome for the user.1
24 otaus.com.au
Living Labs with the AT Community
The early exploration work began with user surveys, focus groups, and think tanks. It explored the current state of AT service delivery, which focuses on the AT user as the ’end’ user–then proposed a future state, in which peer support would be valued as ‘part’ of the AT servicedelivery process. This innovation received overwhelming support from all stakeholders. The next phase in the exploration identified and described the work roles of AT users, practitioners, service providers, and suppliers within traditional AT service delivery steps2. A key part of this process was translating traditional AT service delivery steps into terminology that reflected the voices of AT users and their roles as peer supporters. It was acknowledged early in the phase that AT was becoming more accessible, with online shopping and big box stores offering mainstream and off-the-shelf AT products. The AT community strongly identified the need to consider the safety and risks that AT may pose to AT users, and the instrumental role of allied health professionals in AT service delivery. The experimentation stage of the Living Labs began with User Driven Prototyping
