Sharing research findings to resonate with multiple audiences
The project
An online hub of evidence-based resources for the Workforce Organisation and Wellbeing (WOW) expert group at the School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey
The challenge
The UK health and care sector faces a crisis in recruitment and retention. Research by Surrey’s School of Health Sciences has added some vital pieces to the puzzle, uncovering what makes healthcare staff feel valued and motivated at work. The team wanted a single ‘home’ for all their findings that would resonate with a range of audiences, including healthcare staff, leaders, policymakers and the public, to inspire positive change.
The solution
We developed an online hub, housing many different types of resources. The suite included:
- Research reports, slide decks and links to journal articles for people working in the field wanting the full technical detail
- New content including animation, film and evidence-based guides (including suggestions for implementation and quick wins) to bring the qualitative findings to life for non-experts through a range of different media. The guides drew on reviews of the literature, while the films drew on original research transcripts to convey the essence of the findings – complementing and illustrating the research reports.
- A coherent visual brand to tie all these various elements together, developed through close work with an illustrator and designer.
“Showing the complexity of a two- or three-year research programme in just a few pages isn’t easy, so having the right team was crucial. We had a wide range of findings and interview data, but we needed help pulling it all together into a coherent narrative, with an outsider’s perspective on what different audiences might need to know and how to convey complex ideas in an accessible way.”
Professor Jill Maben OBE
Professor of Health Services Research
School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey
The online hub (http://workforceresearchsurrey.health) presents resources from several research projects into wellbeing among UK health and care professionals.
How we did it
All three projects revealed opportunities but also described traumatic staff experiences. The key challenge was to ensure clarity while maintaining this nuance. We tackled this using the Double Diamond model, with team-wide discussion building on learning at every stage.
- Discover Eleanor worked closely with the team (Professors Jill Maben OBE and Cath Taylor, alongside Dr Ruth Abrams, Dr Anna Conolly and Dr Justin Aunger) to develop an in-depth understanding of the findings. The whole team worked collaboratively, exploring compelling ways to convey the experiences of the healthcare staff who took part.
- Define Eleanor supported the team to identify specific audiences and explore the approaches that would reach them most effectively, within budget. These included reports, simple guides, websites, animation and film. The team chose to present these on a simple online hub, which would enable a rich learning experience without causing overwhelm.
- Develop We brought in the designer and animators (Glen Birchall and CC Animation) early in the process, to ensure that written and visual elements complemented each other. The research team were closely involved in commissioning artwork and adjusting the illustrations to ensure they reflected the findings and set the appropriate tone.
- Deliver The overall project had multiple moving parts, with several elements linked to events taking place throughout the year, so clear processes, roles and scheduling were crucial. The end result was a consistent brand and hub that reflected the research findings, housed all the team’s outputs in one place and could be used for all future projects going forward.
Infographics provided a visual means of communicating complex research findings clearly and simply.
Learning points
- Invest in the discovery stage. Of course, the researchers had done ‘discovery’ of their own through the research phase – but we needed to fully digest the data from a communication perspective, to identify which elements might work as key messages tailored to the needs and preferences of different audiences. This involved providing boundaries and helping contain the scope of the project, while supporting the team to reframe their findings from different perspectives.
- Don’t underestimate the resources needed for project management. When a project involves handling a great deal of content simultaneously, each delay or difficulty has knock-on effects on other projects. This requires someone to adjust schedules and update other team members. Clarity about roles and responsibilities is important here.
- Don’t leave design as an afterthought. Design played a crucial role from the start of this project, as telling the story of the project depended on strong images as well as words. Developing dummy versions of designs early in the process helps clarify to stakeholders the approach we were taking to allow time to adjust or re-think before fine-tuning.
- Think creatively about how to find cost savings. Throughout the project, we thought about how new assets could be re-used further down the line. Each research project has its own landing page with an overview and related assets. We made sure the web technician designed it so that it would be easy to add additional projects further along the line. We also ensured branding and individual assets such as illustrations would be long-term investments, building a suite of images that could be used in different projects over time.
Key findings are presented through multiple media, influcing evidence-based guides and animated video, using the same artwork and branding throughout.
The team commissioned original artwork and worked closely with the artist to develop assets that conveyed the nuance and emotion shared by research participants.
Dr Emma Rowland, Dr Anna Conolly, Professor Jill Maben OBE, Eleanor Stanley (L to R) attend the launch at the Royal College of Nursing.