Mapping out the invisible needs: using creative methods to meaningfully involve children and young people in exploring their condition management

This paper discusses preliminary findings from the first of a series of co-design sessions which collaboratively explored and mapped out invisible aspects of paediatric condition management (CM), highlighting areas of unmet need and factors that may impact future assistive technology innovation. These creative sessions involved children and young people, their parents, healthcare professionals and teachers to map out a multi-perspective understanding of CM within the Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) populations. Using creative tangible methods, externalised and made many aspects of the CM landscape visible from each stakeholder perspective, enabling an in-depth and holistic understanding, highlighting areas of unmet need to focus our co-design on. By grounding innovations within a holistic, multi-perspective understanding of the complex CM landscape from the outset, resulting assistive technologies will better respond to the unique needs and contexts of the paediatric population.