A Trojan horse approach to changing mental health care for young people through service design

ABSTRACT

This case study describes ‘First Line’, a multi-year service design project focused on changing mental healthcare for young people that was conducted through collaboration between Experio Lab and Första linjen in Karlstad, Sweden. The project reflects a ‘Trojan Horse’ approach to changing healthcare in that service design was brought in by the clinical team based on the explicit agenda of developing new digital mental health services for young people. However, bringing in service design also came with the somewhat hidden agenda of supporting new ways of working within the context of mental healthcare. This case study tells the story of the overall project, how this ‘Trojan Horse’ approach to change through service design unravels and the benefits and tensions amid the complexity.

KEYWORDS:

• Trojan horse
• service design
• mental health
• new service development
• culture change

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all those involved with the First line project, especially the youth involved, the Första linjen staff, and Olga Sabirova Höjerström – one of the lead service designers on the project. We would also like to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their feedback.

Disclosure statement

The information and views set out in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Additional information

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 642116. In addition, this research has been conducted with funding from Torsten Söderbergfoundation project No. E22 – Making sense of design work and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond project No. RMP16-1159.

Notes on contributors

Louisa Szücs Johansson

Louisa Szücs Johansson is a designer at the County Council of Värmland in Sweden and connected to the embedded design lab Experio Lab. She is coordinating the interregional collaboration between similar lab initiatives in Swedish health care organizations. Louisa has an MFA degree from HDK – Academy of Design and Crafts. Prior to her work at Experio Lab, she was working in academia coordinating various social innovation initiatives across sectors both on national and regional level.

Josina Vink

Josina Vink is a PhD student based out of Experio Lab and associated with the Service Research Center (CTF) at Karlstad University in Sweden. Her research focuses on transforming health systems through design and is a part of the Service Design for Innovation Network (SDIN). Josina has a background as a service and systems designer in health care in Canada and the United States, including at the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation.

Katarina Wetter-Edman

Katarina Wetter-Edman is researcher at County Council of Sörmland in Sweden and affiliated with Örebro University, School of Business. She holds a PhD in design and an MFA in industrial design. Katarina holds a position as senior lecturer in service design at Konstfack university college of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Her research interests are the articulation of aesthetic knowledge within design practice/methods, designs role in institutional transformation and patient/user involvement through design.