XING Yaohan

Doctoral Researcher

Yaohan Xing achieved a Bachelor of Engineering (Huaqiao University) in 2017 and a Master of Science (Loughborough University) in 2019. Her research concerns leveraging design to empower people with arthritis.

Research

How to Innovate People-Centred Healthcare Service for People with Arthritis Through Design Thinking?

Research Abstract:

Contemporary society is inevitably facing ageing, and health is worthy of attention. Arthritis, a common chronic disease, afflicts more than 10 million people in the UK. This study will focus on the critical point of people-centred services and specifically explore health services for people with arthritis.

Research needs to explore the definition, characteristics and importance of people-centred services from a design perspective. It also must understand how to define and realise people-centred services in healthcare. Finally, using design thinking is important to illustrate service innovation.

This study will use a literature review to demonstrate the knowledge framework in the design field and a systematic review to demonstrate the research status in the medical field. As interdisciplinary research, this project must find the similarities and differences between design and health in service design and development, which can help effectively connect the two fields and find gaps that the researcher can continue to study in-depth.

A case study is the primary research method in this study, which can help the researcher better understand the existing services. Due to the need to deeply understand the needs of service users and stakeholders, interviews and observations will be valuable methods for the research. For better investigation, relevant documents and archives from Arthritis Action and Philips will be analysed. Through case studies, some gaps and opportunities for innovation may be found. Finally, design thinking and service design knowledge are applied to provide innovative service suggestions for people with arthritis.

Today, with the development of the economy and the improvement of living standards, society pays more attention to the feelings of individuals.Based on the increased requirements for personal experience, the research deeply understands and illustrates people-centred service from design and health viewpoints. It will provide innovative suggestions for healthcare service through design knowledge. The researcher will contribute this through interdisciplinary design practice; design methods and knowledge can play a role in different fields of social development.

Supervisors:

Dr. Mersha Aftab
Dr. Panch Suntharalingam
Prof. Joanne Brooke