Leveraging Implementation Science in Human-Centred Design for Digital Health

There are increasing concerns that digital interventions in healthcare settings could be better designed for scalable and sustained use. Implementation science is the scientific study of how to embed evidence-based interventions in practice. Calls to integrate implementation science and Human-Centred Design methods have focused on integrating design methods within implementation science processes. By contrast, we present a novel approach to integrating implementation science within Human-Centred Design for digital health interventions. Our approach leverages the socio-technical Nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability (NASSS) framework within the distinct phases of the Double Diamond process. To illustrate our proposal we demonstrate its application in the redesign of a brief health promotion intervention to reduce the risk of alcohol-attributable breast cancer in women attending routine mammography. We discuss reflections on the approach and implications for future research that targets implementation within design.