Problem Based Learning - Developing competency in knowledge integration in health design

Oct 15, 2026

Different communities, organizations, and people hold competing views of wellbeing, which makes it difficult to balance perspectives during health design when medical truth competes with social media and everyday patient experience. In the Masters of Health Design at OCAD University, students build competency by working with multiple “truths” and truth regimes. The approach addresses how regimes shape challenge understanding, stakeholder engagement, concept communication, iterative feedback, and project-solution delivery.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

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Introduction

The truth regime

Problem Based Learning: Developing competency in knowledge integration in health design Katherine Sellen, OCAD University, Canada Abstract Different communities, organizations, and people hold different views on their own and others’ wellbeing. It is often challenging to balance different perspectives during the design process when the truth of medicine is competing with the truth of social media and the everyday experience of wellbeing of patients, caregivers, family and friends. In the context of the Masters of Health Design at OCAD University (OCAD U), we develop students’competency in working with truth through challenging students to engage with multiple‘truths’ in the design process, engaging deliberately in identifying and working with multiple truth regimes as part of a problem based learning approach. This includes how truth regimes impact the understanding of a challenge area, techniques for engaging with stakeholders, communicating and developing concepts, and the process of seeking and working with feedback for refining and iterating, and finally in communicating project solutions. By engaging in problem based learning, students are exposed to the real challenges of different stakeholder perspectives and in particular how different truth regimes serve to impact what counts as legitimate knowledge and legitimate knowledge representation. Key words health design, knowledge, process, problem based learning, stakeholder engagement 1 Introduction While design practitioners may enjoy the legitimacy to practice in a range of domains, this is often not the case in medical or health related settings where knowledge arising from the practice of design may be an unfamiliar process. As well, knowledge arising from design practice may be perceived as in competition or opposition to established forms of knowledge and knowledge production, such as the evidence base of bio-medicine, humanistic medicine, or the patient experience (Sellen, 2017) . In thinking about different types of knowledge production and maintenance one might describe these as differences in style or regime – a truth regime. In the health sector, it could be said that there are several styles of truth regime commonly in operation that a designer working in the health domain might encounter and be challenged to work with, perhaps integrating these as part of the design process. As a student of health design, one of the competencies that is integral for success, is the ability to navigate and integrate truth regimes in the oftencontested space of healthcare. At first glance, the scientific truth of medicine and its evidence base would seem likely to dominate. This is the first challenge for students. In the first stages of understanding a project or challenge area, identification and interpretation of scientific sources of knowledge may be an unfamiliar activity for many students and may need to be supported through technique development in seeking and synthesizing medically related evidence for design. However, the role of the ‘doctor’ or physician can be a particular and dominant one, and may signal that the role of clinicians in a design related project can involve negotiation by the designer in, or with, a truth regime that is not based on evidence but on a humanistic approach. In the course of [the M. Des. in](the M. Des. in) Design for Health at OCAD U we support students to develop competency in integrating knowledge from different truth regimes as part of their learning process, recognizing also that design for health students themselves operates within their own truth regime, one that may privilege designer, process, prototype and designed object. With this paper, the intent is not to revisit conversations on design and science, discipline and practice (Cross, 2007), but to share the experience of a developing framework that prompts further thought on these topics in the context of design for health. 1.1 The truth regime A truth regi

FAQs

What problem does the paper address in health design processes?

It addresses the difficulty of balancing different stakeholder perspectives on wellbeing when medical evidence, social media narratives, and everyday patient experiences conflict during design.

How does OCAD University’s Masters of Health Design build student competency?

It develops competency by engaging students in problem-based learning that requires identifying and working with multiple “truths” and truth regimes throughout the design process.

What is a “truth regime” in the context of this paper?

A truth regime is described as a general politics of truth, including how truth is identified and represented, how true/false statements are established, how statements are evaluated as truthful, and the status and manner of those who speak “truth”.

Oct 15, 2026

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