Advancing Service Design Thinking with End-of-Life Care Insights: The Unified Service Design Spectrum Framework

Abstract

This study focuses on involving end-users in designing an innovative end-of-life (EOL) care model for the aging populations. Advocating for community participation, it integrates diverse methods and empirical insights to enhance EOL services and extend service design theory. With 32 participants in a community forum, three core themes emerged: home-based care, transition and care team, and holistic care. The Unified Service Design Spectrum framework, extends service design principles to the EOL context. The study suggests future research directions, including stakeholder complexity, time-sensitive service design nuances, outcome tangibility, systemic interconnectedness, interplay of dimensions, cross-industry comparisons, and cross-cultural service design.