Transforming Care Through Co-Design: Developing Inclusive Caregiver-Centered Education in Healthcare.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Participatory Research Methods
• Patient-Centered Care

Background:

• Family caregivers provide essential unpaid support, often performing medical tasks, yet face significant stress and lack recognition.
• Healthcare systems need innovative, person-centered training approaches to support caregivers effectively.
• Co-design (or co-production) involves individuals with lived experience to ensure research relevance and impact.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate how participatory co-design principles influenced learning, collaboration, and engagement.
• To develop a caregiver-centered education program for healthcare providers.
• To provide recommendations for optimizing co-design processes in healthcare education.

Main Methods:

• Utilized focus groups with 85 diverse collaborators (caregivers, providers, policymakers, etc.).
• Employed Thorne's interpretive description and Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis for interview data.
• Conducted sessions using Zoom breakout rooms to manage group dynamics.

Main Results:

• Co-design fostered collaboration, inclusivity, and skill enhancement among participants.
• Exposure to diverse perspectives led to transformative understanding and reflection on caregiver support.
• Key recommendations included pre-meeting materials, flexible scheduling, and broader stakeholder diversity (e.g., rural, Indigenous, immigrant caregivers).

Conclusions:

• Participatory co-design is effective in creating meaningful, caregiver-centered healthcare education.
• Addressing logistical issues and representation gaps can amplify co-design's impact.
• Co-design empowers interdisciplinary partners to shape equitable healthcare education.