Invisible minorities: A co-design framework to improve social care services for older immigrant people in the UK

Abstract

Participatory design practice has existed since the 1970s in various forms. Diving into a trend that has picked up traction in recent years, this study aims to explore the guiding principles of ‘co’ terms and the applicability of co-design in public service development. This is done by observing the context of social care service development in the UK and specifically looking at the experience of social care services for older immigrant people, an often overlooked and marginalised group. Research shows that conventional care for older immigrant people across the UK remains inaccessible. Cultural and system barriers impact self-confidence and personal agency. Often evading dealing with the state, this user group rely heavily on word of mouth and informal family care. Through a review of literature and expert interviews, the study aims to shed light on the service experience of non-native peoples and uncover some of the service and system challenges that impact their lives. As explored through the review of literature, findings show an overall lack of co-design practice in social care service development within local government. These concepts have been further discussed in research and investigated through expert interviews that were conducted during the earlier stages of this study. A comparative case study approach explores other global public service systems to help form an understanding of the way social care service systems are structured, provision for older immigrant people and the relationship between different stakeholders. The larger part of the research aims to build an understanding of how co-design principles can impact the social care service development in the UK as a way of tackling representation and social isolation, considering how co-design can help enhance social care services for older immigrant people and meaningfully engage people into the wider community. The study examines how co-design can help strengthen the citizen-state relationship and cultivate community engagement. The empirical outcomes of this research have been translated into a co-design framework and guidelines for the use in a local government setting. The framework aims to work on four main principles: understanding people, building trust, creating local partnerships, ensuring on-going feedback and monitoring. The co-design framework builds on previous work that has highlighted the need for research that supports vulnerable groups in engaging with the co-design process in the public sector, by identifying the differences with existing user involvement processes.