Co-design, co-production and co-delivery are continuing to grow in importance, particularly in suicide prevention. There is an increasing commitment to lived and/or living experience leadership and to recognition of the need for people with lived and/or living experience to be involved in the design and delivery of initiatives.
But these terms mean very different things to different people, and not everyone who is using them uses them appropriately. Not all co-design is created equal. It takes more than a bunch of post-it notes and pens to genuinely engage people with lived and/or living experience, ensure their perspective supports initiative design, and support positive outcomes for those contributing to the process.
This paper presents an approach to evaluating codesign adapted from Michael Quinn Patton’s principles-focused evaluation, which our evaluation team (including members with lived and/or living experience) has applied to various suicide prevention and mental health initiatives. It identifies the evidence-based principles against which we can assess co-design processes (such as participatory shared ownership and genuine engagement, readiness and managing risk, diversity and inclusiveness, transparency and use). It outlines potential methods for making this assessment – including real-time observations, surveys, interviews and focus groups – and discusses their strengths, weaknesses and appropriateness in different contexts.
We will then facilitate roundtable discussions on how organisations can integrate this approach into their co-design practice to inform ongoing improvements to the process.