Initial development of a self-assessment approach for coproduction value creation by an international community of practice

A Web-Based Peer Support Network to Help Care Partners of People With Serious Illness: Co-Design Study

BACKGROUND

Care partners of people with serious illness experience significant challenges and unmet needs during the patient's treatment period and after their death. Learning from others with shared experiences can be valuable, but opportunities are not consistently available.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to design and prototype a regional, facilitated, and web-based peer support network to help active and bereaved care partners of persons with serious illness be better prepared to cope with the surprises that arise during serious illness and in bereavement.

METHODS

An 18-member co-design team included active care partners and those in bereavement, people who had experienced serious illness, regional health care and support partners, and clinicians. It was guided by facilitators and peer network subject-matter experts. We conducted design exercises to identify the functions and specifications of a peer support network. Co-design members independently prioritized network specifications, which were incorporated into an early iteration of the web-based network.

RESULTS

The team prioritized two functions: (1) connecting care partners to information and (2) facilitating emotional support. The design process generated 24 potential network specifications to support these functions. The highest priorities included providing a supportive and respectful community; connecting people to trusted resources; reducing barriers to asking for help; and providing frequently asked questions and responses. The network platform had to be simple and intuitive, provide technical support for users, protect member privacy, provide publicly available information and a private discussion forum, and be easily accessible. It was feasible to enroll members in the ConnectShareCare web-based network over a 3-month period.

CONCLUSIONS

A co-design process supported the identification of critical features of a peer support network for care partners of people with serious illnesses in a rural setting, as well as initial testing and use. Further testing is underway to assess the long-term viability and impact of the network.

Influencing Factors and Improvement Path of Synergistic Value Creation Efficiency of Emerging Enterprises

The cooperation between emerging enterprises and different enterprises can stimulate innovation enthusiasm and realize synergistic value creation. At present, there is no regular pattern and rules for synergistic value creation among emerging enterprises, which cannot achieve effective synergistic value creation. Based on the complex network relationship and dynamic model of game evolution among multiple entities of value creation within emerging enterprises, the factors that affect the efficiency of synergistic value creation in the aspect of input, benefit assignment, and interaction mechanism of synergistic value creation are analyzed and then the path of the promotion of synergistic value creation among the entities of new enterprises is studied. The results show that the core enterprises play a leading role in the cooperation input among emerging enterprises, and if the balance of interests among cooperative enterprises is guaranteed, the revenue effect is the best, and the network cooperation density is the strongest. The game evolution shows that, in order to improve the efficiency of synergistic value creation, it is necessary to improve the expected coefficient and number of synergies between enterprises and establish a mechanism for equitable distribution of synergies by strengthening information exchange among enterprises in emerging industries, so as to build an atmosphere of synergies, the complementarity of assets and synergies.