Conversation Hour Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

Co-Designing Well-Being Initiatives (#305)

Kent Patrick 1 , Dianne Vella-Brodrick 1 , Amanda Ng 1
  1. University of Melbourne, Carlton, VICTORIA, Australia

Co-design engages multiple stakeholders such as researchers, experts and end-users, during program development to maximise collective creativity in the design process, thus changing the end-users’ role from passive to active design partners. This iterative methodology is increasingly used when young people are the end-users, to more accurately explore and identify their unique needs and opinions. This conversation hour will explore the experiences of research teams and young people who have been involved in several co-designed projects including the development of a) a novel well-being transition program to assist school leavers navigate the challenges of emerging adulthood, and b) a program using ‘real time’ biofeedback and gamification to teach secondary school students strategies to regulate emotions and optimise performance. We will debate several issues central to the use of co-design. For example, should researchers who are investigating issues around young people be required to incorporate their input? How does involving young people in the research process change the end-product, and is the time, effort and financial commitment required to incorporate co-design the best use of limited resources?