Health, Care & Wellbeing Contexts module (GM51085)
Use of design thinking approaches to develop collaborative, inclusive, and user-centred solutions to contemporary health, care, and wellbeing challenges
This module will equip you with an understanding of design thinking and its application to health, care, and wellbeing contexts (e.g. hospitals, community care, social prescribing, and green and blue health). You will study different methods and tools including ethnographic observation, empathy mapping, user journeys, and prototyping. These approaches will be used to create design-informed solutions that are inclusive and sensitive to the complexity of local healthcare systems and user experiences.
Design thinking is an approach that seeks to develop collaborative, inclusive, and user-centred solutions to contemporary problems through the use of empathy, reflection, and creativity. Design thinking has been successfully used to drive product and system innovation across a range of industries including architecture and engineering, and is increasingly being used in healthcare to improve systems and create new products.
What you will learn
In this module, you will:
- learn key design thinking approaches and their application to health, care, and wellbeing contexts
- apply selected practical skills to a contemporary healthcare challenge
- learn to identify key user needs and design improvements that meet those needs effectively
- critically reflect on selected methods of enquiry and their role in healthcare improvement
- develop advanced communication skills to engage with a range of healthcare users and stakeholders
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- demonstrate an understanding of design thinking approaches as applied to healthcare
- critically reflect on the application of different design thinking methods across different healthcare contexts and user groups
- use design thinking in your approach to real-world healthcare challenges
Assignments/assessment
- group presentation (20%)
- 3,000 word essay (80%)
Teaching methods
- lectures
- seminars
- tutorials
- small group and individual practical work
- practical work 'in the field' exploring a contemporary health, care, or wellbeing challenge
- talks by invited speakers