A starter's guide to learning and teaching how to coproduce healthcare services

Abstract

Background: There has been insufficient attention paid to the role of learning in co-production-both how service users and professional service providers learn to co-produce effectively and how the lessons of co-production are captured at a service level.

Objective: We aimed to develop and test a curriculum to support healthcare professionals' interest in learning how to co-produce health and healthcare services with patients.

Methods: We developed a co-production curriculum that was tested iteratively in multiple in-person and virtual teaching sessions and short courses. We conducted a formative evaluation of the co-production curriculum and teaching tools to tailor the curriculum.

Results: Several theories underpin our approach to learning and teaching how to co-produce healthcare services. The co-production curriculum is grounded in systems theory and shares elements of educational theories, namely, the postmodern curriculum matrix, the actor network theory and situated learning in communities of practice. Learning participants valued the sense of community, the experiential learning environment, and the practical methods to support their exploration of co-production.

Conclusion: This paper summarizes the educational theories that underpin our efforts to develop and implement the curriculum, reports on a formative assessment conducted with learners, and makes recommendations for creating an environment for learning how health professionals can co-produce health and healthcare with patients.

Keywords: coproduction; curriculum; formative evaluation; health professions education; qualitative research.