Human Centered Design As a Tool to Design and Refine Prevention Strategies

Human Centered Design (HCD) is an approach to problem solving that involves developing a deep sense of empathy for the needs and challenges of the end-user of a product, service or system and uses this empathy to design and test solutions to problems with the end-users. HCD uses multiple tools and methods to clearly identify the specific problem at hand as well as the contextual determinants of that problem generate creative solutions, test potential solutions and develop final solutions that are more feasible and scalable within real-world conditions. While HCD emerged in the technology world and is often associated with the development of websites or apps, increasingly it is being used to support public health and social services programs. Prevention science aims to develop and study interventions and policies that prevent a variety of social, physical and mental health Outcomes and academic problems from occurring across the lifespan. The HCD approach could be an important tool for prevention scientists to help them deeply understand the needs and barriers of the intended target audiences and better design interventions with the end-user in mind. This discussion session will begin by presenting HCD as a framework and how it may be useful for advancing prevention science. Next the discussants will provide a few examples of its use in contexts related to prevention science including in the development of an online tool to help home visiting programs make referrals to community resources, development of a professional development support related to supporting clients with mental health, substance abuse and intimate partner violence challenges, and an evaluation of the use of HCD in designing a mobile phone application to improve motivation and job satisfaction among community health nurses in Ghana. Finally, a funder will discuss the motivation behind funding the use of HCD in social service design and a new project evaluating its use as a tool to empower state or local programs to improve social services. Both opportunities and challenges of applying HCD to prevention science will be discussed. Discussants include a prevention scientist, a funder of HCD in social services, and two experts in studying and utilizing HCD.