JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Design-based approaches to healthcare strive to support the development of innovative, effective and person-centered solutions for healthcare. Although their use is increasing, there is no systematic overview describing the details of human centered design (HCD) methods in health innovations.

Objective:

This study aims to provide an overview of human centered design approaches applied for the development of health innovations, with the aim of assisting healthcare workers and design researchers in selecting suitable methods for participatory and human centered design processes.

Methods:

We performed electronic searches in Pubmed, CINHAL, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PsycInfo and Sociological Abstracts (2000 – 2020) using search terms related to “human-centered design”, “design thinking”(DT) and “user-centered design”(UCD). Abstracts and full-text articles were screened by two reviewers independently based on predefined inclusion criteria. Data extraction focussed on (a) the methodology employed throughout the research process, (b) the choice of methods in different phases of the innovation cycle and (c) the level of engagement of end-users.

Results:

A wide variation of design-based practices are increasingly applied in health research. Design-based approaches are applied in health research in combination with traditional qualitative and quantitative approaches. All included studies structured the innovation process using a variation of the following phases: understand – define – generate ideas – test. HCD/DT-based research primarily targeted understanding the context and defining the problem whereas UCD-based work focused mainly on the direct generation of solutions.

Conclusions:

Design-based researchers should tailor their choice of design methods according to their primary focus; problem identification or solution development. Design techniques are challenging to evaluate with traditional biomedical research methods, limiting the opportunity for standardized assessment. Future research on HCD practices should focus on the development of specific standards, transdisciplinary evaluation methods, and guidelines for stakeholder engagement.