The position of carers in mental health care: exploring experience-based co-design

Experience Based Co-Design (EBCD) is a service design strategy that meaningfully involves service users and translates qualitative data into action. EBCD has not been applied within the context of designing family engagement within a mental health context, and there is little research exploring the mechanisms that ensure successful implementation. Therefore the aim of this project was to explore the processes that facilitate the EBCD work with carers and family involvement.

Sixteen participants were recruited from an existing EBCD project who reflected the multiple stakeholders. The study adopted a grounded theory approach and the interview data were analysed accordingly.

The preliminary theory produced offers an understanding of the processes involved within an EBCD project with carers, and can be used to inform the successful implementation of future projects. The preliminary theory suggests that for a project to be successful, it needs to be addressing an organisational need with sufficient senior level support. Buy-in from staff can be supported by the problem being made visible. Once established, previously separate groups can work together towards a shared aim and develop simple solutions that can be easily implemented into clinical practice.

The EBCD project was not completed at the time of this report, and so may not reflect the end processes. Future research should be conducted to examine the impact of organisational disruption on the effectiveness of EBCD, by completing a project with this range of stakeholders in a more stable setting.