Participatory prototyping of services was used in the development of home care services towards preventing displacement and loneliness of elderly persons. Together with the elderly users of the home care service and the personnel of the home care crew we designed and implemented Palvelutupa (Service Cottage). Elders took part in communal actions once a week. These actions varied from recreational activities to lectures on daily issues such as nutrition or footwear advices. In addition to the social activities, a health check took place there. Participants took part in the development of the concept for this service and also in the participatory prototyping that was run in the city premises during 8 days along 2 months. The main elements of this service are transportation to the meeting place, taking part in structured activities, getting health care information and check, eating and spending free-time in a small group. Furthermore, participants had the change to influence in the future development of a service that could be implemented for a large amount of elders in the area. The combination of social activities with health related offerings is what makes this service distinctive. In addition, this case has the special characteristic that the person1 that has the initiative towards the creation of this service was within the organization, instead of being a designer working as a external consultant for the city. We believed in the sustainability of the endeavor because the designer instigating this initiative is part of the crew that could make this service real once the decision is made. Though elder participants were informed about the temporary time spam for the prototype still the fact that the prototype seams like a real service and the shared wish (within participants and designers) to continue with it formed a promise of continuity. At the moment when we are waiting the decision from authorities to make this service real for a larger group, elders involved in the project call us in the search of company and comfort for their daily challenges. They call us claiming for the continuity of the service. As designers we succeed in creating an empathic relationship with our end-users through these participatory prototypes, however we did not plan strategically the involvement of decision makers in the design process. People in the role of deciding the future of the project should be involved in the design process. There is a need for awareness and empathy not only for designing new services but also for fastening the speed of transfer the prototype into the implementation phase.

1. Promises of Prototyping
Selander Riikka Huvila-Nicklén Pirjo
Meals and cleanliness in Service Manager
Laurea University of Applied Sciences Torikatu 6-8, 05800 Hyvinkää, Finland
Keskikatu 3a pirjo.huvila@hyvinkaa.fi
04200 Kerava, Finland +358 400 460 568
riikka.e.selander@laurea.fi
+358 40 674 7907 Salgado Mariana
Laurea University of Applied Sciences
Keskikatu 3a
04200 Kerava, Finland
mariana.salgado@laurea.fi
+358 40 585 7727
ABSTRACT temporary time spam for the prototype still the fact that
Participatory prototyping of services was used in the the prototype seams like a real service and the shared
development of home care services towards preventing wish (within participants and designers) to continue with
displacement and loneliness of elderly persons. Together it formed a promise of continuity. At the moment when
with the elderly users of the home care service and the we are waiting the decision from authorities to make this
personnel of the home care crew we designed and service real for a larger group, elders involved in the
implemented Palvelutupa (Service Cottage). Elders took project call us in the search of company and comfort for
part in communal actions once a week. These actions their daily challenges. They call us claiming for the
varied from recreational activities to lectures on daily continuity of the service.
issues such as nutrition or footwear advices. In addition to
the social activities, a health check took place there. As designers we succeed in creating an empathic
Participants took part in the development of the concept relationship with our end-users through these
for this service and also in the participatory prototyping participatory prototypes, however we did not plan
that was run in the city premises during 8 days along 2 strategically the involvement of decision makers in the
months. design process. People in the role of deciding the future
of the project should be involved in the design process.
The main elements of this service are transportation to the There is a need for awareness and empathy not only for
meeting place, taking part in structured activities, getting designing new services but also for fastening the speed of
health care information and check, eating and spending transfer the prototype into the implementation phase.
free-time in a small group. Furthermore, participants had
the change to influence in the future development of a Author Keywords
service that could be implemented for a large amount of Participatory prototyping, service design, home care,
elders in the area. The combination of social activities elders, seniors, public sector.
with health related offerings is what makes this service
distinctive. In addition, this case has the special INTRODUCTION
characteristic that the person1 that has the initiative This work reflects on material gathered for a master
towards the creation of this service was within the thesis in Laurea University of Applied Sciences done in
organization, instead of being a designer working as a collaboration with the city of Hyvinkää. Students have
external consultant for the city. We believed in the designed a service named Palvelutupa together with
sustainability of the endeavor because the designer different stakeholders. The cost accounting done after the
instigating this initiative is part of the crew that could prototypes showed that the result does not increased costs
make this service real once the decision is made. for the city. This service fits patients that take part in
home care services. In addition, Palvelutupa could be part
Though elder participants were informed about the of preventive actions for elderly persons for whom the
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for necessity of home care is already under consideration.
personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are
not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that European Union’s theme for the year 2012 is ‘It is always
copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy the right Age’. The purpose of the Theme Year is to
otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists,
requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. support elderly persons to notice that they have a right to
PDC’12, 12-AUG-2012, Roskilde, Denmark. take part into activities of both the society and their
Copyright 2012 ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-0846-5/12/08…$10.00. current surroundings. Finland’s Council of State has been
1
Manager of meals and cleanliness of the city of Hyvinkää, Finland.
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2. preparing the new ‘Health 2015’ program. The aim is to new service, implementation of a participatory
guarantee for elderly persons possibilities for independent prototypes, cost accountings and the observation and
and high-quality living at their own home. However, analysis of all these phases. The following diagram
several studies (1, 3, 6) indicate that elderly persons visualizes the process.
living on their own feel lonely. This problem will be
increasing in Finland in the future too, because the
estimated section of person’s older than 65 will be PARTICIPATORY PROTOTYPING
approximately one third of the population by the year Palvelutupa prototype was in operation every Wednesday
2060 (5). for two months. Two persons were in charge of
organizing it and taking care of details of its
The main research question in this study was how service implementation. For example, they called the elders the
design and its methods could be adapted into the day before to remind them that a taxi would be waiting to
development process of the communal service. At the transport them to Palvelutupa at a certain time.
same time, the aim was to find out whether Palvelutupa
could support the everyday life and prevent displacement Every day has a certain theme and the activities planned
and loneliness. In this specific workshop we want to related to it. These themes came from the wishes of what
discuss issues concerning the ethical awareness of the elderly people had articulated in the interviews and from
consequences of including elders with memory the workshop with the home care crew. The day began at
disfunction problems in taking part of the design of new ten o’clock in the morning and finished at two in the
services and particularly using participatory prototype. afternoon.
In the current model of home care all the services that The participants asked for having the possibility to listen
elderly peoples need are delivered to their homes which music, to sing psalms, to do gymnastic exercises, to have
means in the worst case that the old person do not have some treat as a beauty care session and the most
nearly at all contacts to outer world. Therefore, the important: have time to drink coffee with others. All these
current model provides a solution to the first needs of the was realized in addition to other activities that were
patients (receiving health care and food) but do not planned together with the home care crew such as the use
responds to the social needs such as getting to know new of crafting in combination with the topic of the lecture.
people and having peers to talk and share their life. For example, the elders did a magnetic reminder for their
During these participatory sessions elders came to a home fridge that help each of them to realize a certain nutrition
for the elders once a week and they got social activities, advice that they wanted to work-out. For making these
health related information and check-ups and they activities possible we collaborate with the local schools,
participate the design of a service. church and other service providers. As an example
students from the local school of hairdressing came to
DESIGNING A SERVICE offer their services to the participants.
This service was a co-design process that involved elders
and home care and health care crew. First we did semi- After the morning guided activities they took lunch
structure theme interviews in elders' homes using cards in together. The nurse from the home care came to
order to better understand their everyday life and elicit Palvelutupa in the afternoon and discussed with the
conversation. Second, we have a workshop with the home customers asking how they felt, measured the blood
care crew using doll’s house furniture, action cards and pressure and blood sugar and distributed the medicines.
different types of pottering materials. During this Instead of going to everyone’s home separately the nurse
workshop we explore possibilities of activities and could take care of several customers at the same time.
formats for the participatory prototype. Third, we analyze This came out to be very important to the elderly people
the results and the interviews and workshops using because the nurse had more time to spend and to listen to
affinity diagrams. At last, we designed this participatory them.
prototype that lasted for two months. Each of the
meetings days was planned with care to details and taking DISCUSSION ON METHODS
in consideration that this special group of elders have It can be outlined that participatory prototyping method
memory problems. is suitable to service development in the public sector. It
The project covers many phases of the design process: supported empathy between the researchers and the
analysis of users needs and wishes, concept design of a participants. The participatory prototyping helped the
designers, the care home crew and the health nurses to
better understand elderly persons’ needs and wishes. The
participatory prototype allow for spending time together
and open the discussion to personal and intimate topics.
The dialogue with the participants embrace emotional and
practical aspects of elders everyday life.
During the prototype sessions, it could be observed that
the participants both cheered up and activated. Based on
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3. this study and the persons that took part, it can be stated have included home care specialists, nurses, other
that the combination of social and health related activities external partners such as the local service providers and
were important factors increasing well-being. The feeling elders but we failed to invite decision makers. When the
of being lonely had a significant downturn during the service relates to a community, all the participants in the
prototype. community need to be consider as part of the design
process.
The methods used are original practices within the
organization. These workshops including visualizations We suggest that decision makers should be part of the
elements are a new way to focus the discussion with design of services, in order to understand (both
home care nurses and elders. Furthermore, to include the intellectually and emotionally) the fundamental needs and
end-users, in this case the elders in the design of their wishes of the end-users, in this case the elders. In the
future everyday living is not a practice for strategic public sector, specially in large organizations decision
planning of future services. Strategic planners in large making processes are slow and elders need a quick
organizations such as cities do seldom consult end-users responses. We believe that if decision makers will be part
for coming up with new service solutions. These practices of this process the decisions will come quicker. However,
need to be spread and further develop in order to motivate the way and the moment in which these persons are
more democratic services that are inclusive. This is an included in the design process is something that needs
example of a service design that is the result of an further discussion.
initiative of city employees together with the end-users,
therefore with a clear botton-up approach. We believe We endure our frustration because the decision of making
that this approach could bring more democratic services this service available to the participants of the prototype
solutions. takes time. We agree with Suchmann (4) on
“acknowledging and accepting the limited power of any
CONCLUSIONS actors or artifacts to control technology production/use”
In this case, innovation is not sustained by examples of in and verified that this is also true in the context of
introducing ICT to the elders but on proposing a new controlling the implementation of a service. Futhermore,
service to stimulate their social life. This stimulation, as we also recognize the fake promises that our prototype
we have observed, can have an impact into their health arose into participants.
condition. If the problems of these elderly persons are
isolation and loneliness, a service in which they can meet REFERENCES
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