Abstract Background Human centred design (HCD) approaches to healthcare strive to support the development of innovative, effective, and person-centred solutions for healthcare. Although their use is increasing, there is no integral overview describing the details of HCD methods in health innovations. Objective This review aims to explore the current practices of HCD approaches for the development of health innovations, with the aim of providing an overview of applied methods for participatory and human centred design processes and highlight shortcomings for further research. Method A narrative review of health research was conducted based on systematic electronic searches in PubMed, CINHAL, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PsycInfo and Sociological Abstracts (2000 – 2020) using keywords related to “human-centred design”, “design thinking”(DT) and “user-centred design”(UCD). Abstracts and full-text articles were screened by two reviewers independently based on predefined inclusion criteria. Data extraction focused on (a) the methodology employed throughout the research process, (b) the choice of methods in different phases of the innovation cycle and (c) the level of engagement of end-users. Results This review summarizes the application of HCD practices across various areas of health innovation. All approaches prioritized users’ needs and the participatory and iterative nature of the design process. The design processes consisted of several design cycles during which multiple qualitative and/or quantitative methods were used in combination with specific design methods. HCD/DT-based research primarily targeted understanding the research context and defining the problem whereas UCD-based work focused mainly on the direct generation of solutions. While UCD approaches involved end-users primarily in the role of tester and informant, HCD/DT approaches involved end-users most often as design partners.
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