A qualitative evaluation of a co-design process involving young people at risk of suicide

Abstract

Background: Co-design is becoming common practice in the development of mental health services, however, little is known about the experience of such practices, particularly when young people are involved.

Objective: The aim of this study was to conduct a process evaluation of the co-design which was undertaken for the development of an intervention for youth and adolescents at risk of suicide. This paper briefly outlines the co-design process undertaken during a COVID-19 lockdown and then focuses on a qualitative evaluation of the experience of taking part in a co-design process.

Setting and participants: The evaluation involved young consumers of a public youth mental health service, their carers/parents and service delivery staff who had taken part in the co-design process.

Method: This study used follow-up semistructured interviews with the co-design participants to explore their experience of the co-design process. Inductive thematic analysis was used to draw out common themes from the qualitative data.

Results: It was found that despite the practical efforts of the project team to minimise known issues in co-design, challenges centred around perceptions regarding power imbalance, the need for extensive consultation and time constraints still arose.

Discussion: Despite these challenges, the study found that the co-design provided a human-centred, accessible and rewarding process for young people, parents and staff members, leaving them with the feeling that they had made a worthwhile contribution to the design of the new service, as well as contributing to changing practice in service design.

Conclusion: With sensitivity and adaptation to usual practice, it is possible to include young people with suicidal ideation, their parents/carers and professional staff in a safe and effective co-design process.

Patient and public contribution: The authors would like to thank and acknowledge the young people with a lived experience and their carers who participated in the co-design process and research evaluation component of this study. We also wish to thank the clinical staff, peer workers and family peer workers who participated in this research.

Keywords: co-design; process evaluation; youth suicide.