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Welcome to the website for the series on HCI Fieldwork in Healthcare.

Performing fieldwork in healthcare settings is significantly different to other domains and it presents unique challenges to researchers. There are issues in terms of negotiating ethics, gaining access and knowing where to study; there are challenges in being an outsider in private places that are emotionally charged, with potential for patient nudity and invasive procedures; there are challenges for high-risk innovation and measuring research impact. Whilst results are reported in research papers, the details of how to actually perform these fieldwork studies are not.

We have two Guidebooks on HCI Fieldwork in Healthcare, based on the Workshop “HCI Fieldwork in Healthcare – Creating a Guidebook” that was held in Paris, France as part of CHI 2013. The workshop brought together a diverse selection of research and researchers who do fieldwork in clinical and non-clinical settings: e.g. hospital, homecare and with mobile technology. It focused on producing graduate guidebooks for HCI fieldwork in healthcare (published by Morgan & Claypool Publishers). Case studies submitted by participants that have been updated and revised forms one book, “Fieldwork for Healthcare: Case studies investigating human factors in computing systems,“ released in February 2014. Participants co-authored thematic chapters that crosscut these case studies to draw out issues and lessons learnt for the guidance book, “Fieldwork for Healthcare: Guidance for investigating human factors in computing systems,” released in early 2015.

Continuing in this series of work, we also held a theory workshop at CHI 2014 in Toronto, Canada: “HCI Research in Healthcare: Using Theory from Evidence to Practice.” We built on the first workshop and outcomes of the books by allowing a forum for HCI researchers and the wider health informatics community to discuss theoretical challenges and advances in our work.

Broadening out, we are also holding a CHI 2016 workshop on “Advances in DIY Health & Wellbeing” in San Jose, California in May 2016 to examine the maker and hacker practices that are arising in the health and wellbeing domains.

Please sign up to our mailing list to receive news about the books, the workshop, and the continuing series.