Drawing on new ideas (and paper) to better understand kids’ toileting needs

This talk presented the findings of 'Toilet Talk' - a collaboration between IMPRESS (Incontinence Management & PRevention through Engineering and ScienceS) and Devices for Dignity (both National Institute for Health Research Healthcare Technology Co-operatives), alongside a group of children with incontinence, their parents and siblings. This collaboration hoped to inform the development of technological interventions specifically aimed at supporting paediatric incontinence. Together, we used a range of bespoke tools to creatively and collaboratively explore questions of ‘What are your main challenges? How do you currently address them? And how would you like to address them in the future?’ These tools aimed to place the children as the experts in the rooms, reflecting on their wider life (i.e. their hobbies, friends, family) and took an asset-based approach to highlight the skills and resources they already leverage to address their personal challenges. Later, ideation activities were used to empower the families as inventors to highlight and address any unmet health needs. Central to each of the activities was the aim to reframe a traditionally ‘taboo’ topic as something that is safe, and even fun, to explore through creative means. This study concludes that by using context-specific, sensitive and creative tools, children from a range of ages can (and should) be included in setting the agenda for future healthcare technology development, even in topics that are traditionally difficult to discuss.