Interdisciplinary user groups and the design of healthcare facilities

Aim: This Australian research explores how “user group” participants from diverse professional discipline backgrounds understand, define, perform their roles, and assess the outcomes of the healthcare design process. Background: Part of the design process in Australia and New Zealand, the purpose of interdisciplinary user group consultation is to design the best healthcare facilities possible within the parameters set by project clients and funding bodies. Method: An online survey was used to explore how user group participants viewed the process, including how well informed they felt they were about their role/s in it, its success in achieving specific outcomes for their project, and how they felt their project client, owner, or funding body assessed these same issues. It included both closed and open-ended questions, and data were then analyzed using an interpretative methodology by an architect researcher based in practice. Results: Emergent issues identified include governance of the process, knowledge asymmetries between participants, missed opportunities for innovation, composition and workloads of user groups, and the quality of resources available to guide the process. Conclusions: The interdisciplinary user group process could be improved, and future research will look at how drawing on participatory design methods used in sectors such as urban planning may support the development of new techniques for conducting user groups.