STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT FOR THL'S E-COURSES | 2022

For Aalto’s “societal design project” course, our team of five collaborated with THL, the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare in developing the strategic direction of their domestic violence (DV) e-courses. THL’s initial targets were to increase the amount of course takers and to promote multidisciplinary learning.

In response, we created a domestic violence education model targeted towards DV coordinators of welfare areas. The education model was designed to incorporate THL’s e-course materials, increasing their effectiveness and overall societal impact.

CLIENT

THL, university project

SCOPE

Strategic design, service design

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

THL is a government funded organization that conducts health and welfare related research and development.

THL’s problem for us was to figure out how their e-course on domestic violence, “Puutu Väkivaltaan,” could be better utilized. They wished that more social and healthcare professionals would take the course, preferably in a multidisciplinary manner.

As a starting point, it was unknown how their course was currently being used, as well as what potential barriers there may be for people to not take the course.

PROCESS: LEAN SERVICE CREATION

We followed a framework called “The Lean Service Creation Handbook,” developed by Futurice. For each week of the 11 week long project, we filled out a designated canvas from the handbook on Miro. We also submitted weekly reports in the form of audio recordings.

In practice, the process was far from linear and involved a great deal of iteration. We regularly revisited previously canvases and often even had to redefine them as we gathered new information.

SOLUTION: A NEW ROLE

During our first round of interviews, we realized that a typical treatment path begins with employees contacting their supervisor or other superior if they suspect domestic violence. This naturally relies on a supervisor with a diverse network, an understanding of DV and knowledge of the local DV treatment protocol. However, not everyone has this skillset.

Furthermore, we discovered that educating every professional with THL’s full e-course as THL had initially wished for would be too time and resource intensive.

Instead, we figured that organizations could designate and train one domestic violence responsible person, a “DV pilot."

SOLUTION: DV EDUCATION MODEL

The idea of a DV responsible employee was expanded into a more detailed education model.

In the model, only the DV pilots would undergo THL’s full 8h e-course training. They would also undergo an additional one-day f2f training where they would get the chance to network with their counterparts from other organizations. This would promote local, interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Finally, the pilot would hold a short recap about the most relevant issues in their home organizations.