Developing mHealth IT for Older Adult Medication Safety: Remote Participatory Co-Design Using the RAPID Method

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Participatory Design

Background:

• Participatory co-design is increasingly used in healthcare, shifting from in-person to remote methods.
• Remote co-design offers benefits like expanded reach, diverse recruitment, reduced power dynamics, and enhanced engagement.
• Further refinement and reporting of remote co-design methods are necessary.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the Remote and Accessible Participatory Intervention Design (RAPID) method.
• To discuss challenges and choices in adapting co-design for remote use in healthcare.

Main Methods:

• Adapted a 5-step in-person co-design method for remote application.
• Recruited two groups (older adult pharmacy patients and pharmacy staff) for co-design.
• Focused on designing a digital kiosk for safe over-the-counter medication purchases.

Main Results:

• Adaptations spanned facilitation, collaboration, communication, sensemaking, accessibility, tools, and compliance.
• Remote co-design sessions were shorter, potentially increasing overall duration but allowing flexible scheduling.
• The process facilitated remote collaboration for intervention design.

Conclusions:

• The RAPID method provides a framework for remote co-design implementation.
• Remote co-design presents drawbacks but offers significant advantages in convenience and flexibility.
• The experiences highlight the need for careful planning in remote participatory design.