Story-Centered Co-creative Methods: A Means for Relational Service Design and Healthcare Innovation

Building on empirical evidence gathered from a case study with dementia family caregivers in the Danish healthcare system, the chapter looks at how story-centered co-creative methods, i.e., an iterative practice of gathering and (co)producing stories, can ignite and sustain relational service design and how this can contribute to healthcare innovation. These story-centered co-creative methods can work particularly well not only to build relationships with and among participants but also to foster greater levels of trust, sensitivity, and empathy in service design projects. While facing the challenges of supporting their loved ones suffering from dementia, family caregivers have to interact with multiple and different actors, including an array of different physicians, specialists, nurses, and other professional caregivers. Story-centered co-creative methods can support the engagement of these diverse actors and invite them to embrace each other’s perspectives while reflecting, thinking, and acting on how healthcare services can be improved and innovated. When involved in a design process that builds safe, informal, and authentic spaces for self-expression, these actors truly benefit from the transformative power of the service design process itself. The chapter provides theoretical reflections on this process-based view of service design and offers practical advice that can both inform the practice of service design professionals and ignite innovation within healthcare organizations.