Adopting a co-design approach to foster collaborative capacity and reflexivity in Social Prescribing. A Service Ecosystem Design perspective

Abstract

The article aims to explore potential areas of intervention by Service Design to enhance the non-clinical intervention called Social Prescribing (SP). We propose the example of two co-design workshops delivered as training modules for a pilot study in Portugal and in Italy for young people defined as NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) informed by a previous case study research based in the UK where SP is established. We would like to discuss the “collaborative capacity” role that design can play as it will support the future emergence of co-creative activities in the ecosystem generated by Social Prescribing. This paper is the first step of the exploration of the relevance of the contribution of novel conceptual frameworks evolving from Service Ecosystem Design. This paper is part of a still ongoing research and we are discussing emerging questions that will guide further explorations on the topic, both theoretically and empirically.