Co-designing ‘It’s Your Right’, a peer-led hepatitis C health promotion campaign for people who inject drugs

About the poster

The poster is titled: ‘It’s really refreshing to be involved in something where our perspective and opinion was respected and taken seriously’: Co-designing It’s Your Right, a peer-led hepatitis C health promotion campaign for people who inject drugs.

Authors include Walsh L, Leyden E, Adamson E, Christensen S, Dicka J, Hellard M, Pedrana A, and on behalf of the EC Australia National Reference Group. L Walsh and E Leyden are sharing first authorship.

Author affiliations

• Eliminate Hepatitis C Australia (EC Australia), Burnet Institute
• Queensland Injectors Health Network
• Poche Centre for Indigenous Health
• The University of Queensland
• Harm Reduction Victoria
• Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine, Monash University.

Contact

For more information, contact louisa.walsh@burnet.edu.au.

What is It's Your Right?

• First Australia-wide hepatitis C health promotion campaign to be co-designed with peer workers with living and lived experience of injecting drug use.
• Aimed to increase hepatitis C testing and treatment uptake in people who inject drugs.
• Co-designed from July 2019 to December 2021.
• Co-design group included representatives from:
  • Australian Injecting Drug Users’ League (AIVL) Peer Network
  • Australian state-based peer-based drug user organisations
  • Burnet Instituteand other research settings
  • Clear Horizon Consulting, an agency with expertise in co-design
  • Enigma, an advertising and marketing agency.

Methods

• The experience of being involved in the co-design process was examined as part of the evaluation of the It’s Your Right campaign.
• 18 people were interviewed about being part of the co-design process.
• Ten interview participants had living or lived experience of injecting drug use.
• Documents relating to the co-design workshops (such as workshop plans, artefacts generated by the group, and meeting minutes) were also examined as part of the evaluation.

It's Your Right co-design process

The campaign co-design (and subsequent roll-out) was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. After early face-to-face preparatory work, the pandemic was declared, resulting in a pause in the project before a shift to online working. The following outlines the timeline of the co-design process and key activities:

• July 2019–March 2020: Preparatory work between Burnet, AIVL, and other project partners to determine the co-design approach.
• March 2020: First co-design workshop face-to-face focused on establishing the process.
• October–December 2020: 6 online co-design workshops determining campaign aims, objectives, audience and key messages, and key ingredients for the strategies.
• May–July 2021: Development and focus testing of initial campaign concepts.
• July–September 2021: 6 online co-design workshops to refine the campaign strategies.
• October–December 2021: Finalisation of campaign messages and design through focus testing and workshops.

Feedback on the co-design process

Benefits

• Living and lived experience at centre of design led to a campaign better tailored towards people who inject drugs.
• Feeling of ownership over the campaign for co-designers who were also from implementing organisations.
• Focus testing allowed the opinions of the broader community of people who use drugs to be integrated into the campaign.

“When we eventually got the posters in our hands... that was just so rewarding... The colours, the slogans... the whole style of the design of it... the way we wanted to say it, everything was perfect,” said a peer worker.

Challenges

• COVID-19 – online working, delays to project.
• Co-design process sometimes repetitive and took longer than some participants had anticipated.
• Competing work priorities could lead to participation in the co-design process being de-prioritised.

“We wasted a lot of time initially waiting for COVID to go away and that was... because we didn't want to do it online,” said a peer worker.

Recommendations

• Shorter timelines for future co-design projects.
• Adopt a hybrid model that utilises both online and face-to-face activities and workshops.
• Increase diversity of voices and experiences – including more representation from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

“I would like to see it more face to face... happening quicker... I think a hybrid kind of thing because there are some good things that come from the online part of it,” said a peer worker.

Conclusion

Co-designing It’s Your Right with peer workers resulted in nuanced campaign messaging and design which resonated with people who inject drugs. Recommendations for future co-design activities include shortening the timeline for design, and adopting a hybrid co-design model combining online and face-to-face activities.

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge all the members of the It’s Your Right National Reference Group and implementing partners, who are not named as authors on this poster, for their contributions to the campaign design, delivery, and evaluation.

EC Australia 2019 -2022 was funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation and the Health Promotion Component activities were co-funded by the Australian Department of Health.