Democratising discursive design: Co-creation of digital patient stories for COPD care

Discursive Design positions design as a form of discourse, creating opportunities for reflection and debate, and offering an alternative approach to healthcare interventions. Democratising the development of its artefacts is essential to address challenges identified in current Discursive Design projects such as limited multidimensional problem exploration, inadequate localisation of issues, and the neglect of positive, inspiring discourses. In this study, we adopted co-creation as a democratic methodology to tackle these challenges. Co-creation ensured that voices of all participating stakeholders were actively and meaningfully represented throughout the design process. We co-created digital patient stories for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care, using discursive materials to encourage deeper exploration and reflection during the process. Throughout the process, we observed how discursive materials were integrated at different stages of co-creation and reflected on their impact in healthcare design process. We also explored the role of ethnographic elements embedded within co-creation practices and how they might enhance the potential of digital patient stories as Discursive Design artefacts, offering more nuanced and empowering ways to address complex healthcare challenges. • Healthcare co-creation principles address challenges faced by discursive designers. • Discursive materials bridge stages and coordinate stakeholders. • Discursive Design has the potential to extend the impact of qualitative research. • Co-creation in the healthcare field embeds certain design ethnographic elements.