Turning Tables: A Structured Focus Group Method to Remediate Unequal Power during Participatory Design in Health Care

Jonas Geuens; Luc Geurts; Thijs W. Swinnen; René Westhovens; Maarten Van Mechelen; Vero Vanden Abeele

doi:10.1145/3210604.3210649

Turning Tables: A Structured Focus Group Method to Remediate Unequal Power during Participatory Design in Health Care

Jonas Geuens, Luc Geurts, Thijs W. Swinnen, René Westhovens, Maarten Van Mechelen, Vero Vanden Abeele

Design Conceptualization and Communication

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volume › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In a participatory design process, patients as well as care providers play a critical role in the design and development of healthcare apps. However, special attention should be given to problematic group dynamics that may arise from unequal power across participants. In this paper, we present Turning Tables, a focus group method, inspired by social interdependence theory (SIT), to mitigate asymmetric power. First, we present our SIT-inspired protocol for conducting focus groups. Next, via a qualitative analysis of 2 focus groups, we describe group dynamics and evaluate our method. Observations show that by splitting teams into patients versus care providers, and by specifying turn-taking (giving the floor to patients first), unequal power can be mitigated. However, observations also show that participants default back into their traditional roles during less formalized moments.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	PDC' 18 roceedings of the 15th Participatory Design Conference
Subtitle of host publication	Short Papers, Situated Actions, Workshops and Tutorial
Place of Publication	New York, NY
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Pages	1-5
Number of pages	5
Volume	2
ISBN (Electronic)	978-145035574-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3210604.3210649
Publication status	Published - 2018
Event	15th Participatory Design Conference, PDC 2018: The 15th Participatory Design Conference - Hasselt and Genk, Belgium Duration: 20 Aug 2018 → 24 Aug 2018 Conference number: 15

Conference

Conference	15th Participatory Design Conference, PDC 2018
Abbreviated title	PDC 2018
Country	Belgium
City	Hasselt and Genk
Period	20/08/18 → 24/08/18

Access to Document

10.1145/3210604.3210649

Link to publication in Scopus

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Geuens, J., Geurts, L., Swinnen, T. W., Westhovens, R., Van Mechelen, M., & Abeele, V. V. (2018). Turning Tables: A Structured Focus Group Method to Remediate Unequal Power during Participatory Design in Health Care. In PDC' 18 roceedings of the 15th Participatory Design Conference: Short Papers, Situated Actions, Workshops and Tutorial (Vol. 2, pp. 1-5). [4] Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). https://doi.org/10.1145/3210604.3210649

Geuens, Jonas ; Geurts, Luc ; Swinnen, Thijs W. ; Westhovens, René ; Van Mechelen, Maarten ; Abeele, Vero Vanden. / Turning Tables : A Structured Focus Group Method to Remediate Unequal Power during Participatory Design in Health Care. PDC' 18 roceedings of the 15th Participatory Design Conference: Short Papers, Situated Actions, Workshops and Tutorial . Vol. 2 New York, NY : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2018. pp. 1-5

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abstract = "In a participatory design process, patients as well as care providers play a critical role in the design and development of healthcare apps. However, special attention should be given to problematic group dynamics that may arise from unequal power across participants. In this paper, we present Turning Tables, a focus group method, inspired by social interdependence theory (SIT), to mitigate asymmetric power. First, we present our SIT-inspired protocol for conducting focus groups. Next, via a qualitative analysis of 2 focus groups, we describe group dynamics and evaluate our method. Observations show that by splitting teams into patients versus care providers, and by specifying turn-taking (giving the floor to patients first), unequal power can be mitigated. However, observations also show that participants default back into their traditional roles during less formalized moments.",

author = "Jonas Geuens and Luc Geurts and Swinnen, {Thijs W.} and Ren{\'e} Westhovens and {Van Mechelen}, Maarten and Abeele, {Vero Vanden}",

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Geuens, J, Geurts, L, Swinnen, TW, Westhovens, R, Van Mechelen, M & Abeele, VV 2018, Turning Tables: A Structured Focus Group Method to Remediate Unequal Power during Participatory Design in Health Care. in PDC' 18 roceedings of the 15th Participatory Design Conference: Short Papers, Situated Actions, Workshops and Tutorial . vol. 2, 4, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), New York, NY, pp. 1-5, 15th Participatory Design Conference, PDC 2018, Hasselt and Genk, Belgium, 20/08/18. https://doi.org/10.1145/3210604.3210649

Turning Tables : A Structured Focus Group Method to Remediate Unequal Power during Participatory Design in Health Care. / Geuens, Jonas; Geurts, Luc; Swinnen, Thijs W.; Westhovens, René; Van Mechelen, Maarten; Abeele, Vero Vanden.

PDC' 18 roceedings of the 15th Participatory Design Conference: Short Papers, Situated Actions, Workshops and Tutorial . Vol. 2 New York, NY : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2018. p. 1-5 4.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volume › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

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AB - In a participatory design process, patients as well as care providers play a critical role in the design and development of healthcare apps. However, special attention should be given to problematic group dynamics that may arise from unequal power across participants. In this paper, we present Turning Tables, a focus group method, inspired by social interdependence theory (SIT), to mitigate asymmetric power. First, we present our SIT-inspired protocol for conducting focus groups. Next, via a qualitative analysis of 2 focus groups, we describe group dynamics and evaluate our method. Observations show that by splitting teams into patients versus care providers, and by specifying turn-taking (giving the floor to patients first), unequal power can be mitigated. However, observations also show that participants default back into their traditional roles during less formalized moments.

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Geuens J, Geurts L, Swinnen TW, Westhovens R, Van Mechelen M, Abeele VV. Turning Tables: A Structured Focus Group Method to Remediate Unequal Power during Participatory Design in Health Care. In PDC' 18 roceedings of the 15th Participatory Design Conference: Short Papers, Situated Actions, Workshops and Tutorial . Vol. 2. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). 2018. p. 1-5. 4 https://doi.org/10.1145/3210604.3210649