Designing with care for the end of life: a reflective co-design workshop using material facilitation
Abstract
Conversations about end-of-life (EOL) care are often delayed until moments of crisis, leaving little time or emotional capacity for people to reflect on what matters most to them. This paper reports on a reflective co-design workshop in which fifteen participants used material-facilitated methods to explore their imagined EOL experiences. Through landscape making, journey mapping, and collaborative service model building, participants expressed hopes, fears, values, and priorities that are difficult to articulate through direct questioning. The materials created a low-pressure and supportive environment, allowing participants to approach a sensitive topic at their own pace and translate personal meaning into ideas for more compassionate systems and services. The findings show how design can function as a form of care by fostering emotional safety, agency, and shared understanding. The workshop demonstrates the potential of material-facilitated co-design to support proactive EOL conversations, strengthen patient-centered care, and encourage reflective dialogue in community and clinical contexts.
Keywords
healthcare, design for care, service design, co-design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.462
Citation
Yu, C., and Arnold Mages, M. (2026) Designing with care for the end of life: a reflective co-design workshop using material facilitation, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.462
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Designing with care for the end of life: a reflective co-design workshop using material facilitation
Conversations about end-of-life (EOL) care are often delayed until moments of crisis, leaving little time or emotional capacity for people to reflect on what matters most to them. This paper reports on a reflective co-design workshop in which fifteen participants used material-facilitated methods to explore their imagined EOL experiences. Through landscape making, journey mapping, and collaborative service model building, participants expressed hopes, fears, values, and priorities that are difficult to articulate through direct questioning. The materials created a low-pressure and supportive environment, allowing participants to approach a sensitive topic at their own pace and translate personal meaning into ideas for more compassionate systems and services. The findings show how design can function as a form of care by fostering emotional safety, agency, and shared understanding. The workshop demonstrates the potential of material-facilitated co-design to support proactive EOL conversations, strengthen patient-centered care, and encourage reflective dialogue in community and clinical contexts.