Co-design of the web-based 'My Knee' education and self-management toolkit for people with knee osteoarthritis

Objective: Describe the co-design process and learnings related to developing the web-based Translating Research Evidence and Knowledge (TREK) 'My Knee' education and self-management toolkit for people with knee osteoarthritis.

Co-design process: Stage (i): Understand and define; systematically reviewed education interventions in published trials; appraised web-based information about knee osteoarthritis; and used concept mapping to identify education priorities of people with knee osteoarthritis and physiotherapists. Stage (ii): Prototype; created a theory-, guideline- and evidence-informed toolkit. Stage (iii): Test and iterate; completed three co-design workshops with end-users (i.e., people with knee osteoarthritis and health professionals); plus an expert review.

Results: The toolkit is available at myknee.trekeducation.org. Stage (i) identified the need for more accurate and co-designed resources to address broad education needs generated during concept mapping, including guidance on surgery, dispelling common misconceptions and facilitating engagement with exercise therapy and weight management. A theory- and research-informed prototype was created in Stage (ii) to address broad learning and education needs. Stage (iii) co-design workshops (n = 15 people with osteoarthritis and n = 9 health professionals) informed further content creation and refinement, alongside improvements to optimise usability. Expert opinion review (n = 8) further refined accuracy and usability.

Conclusions: The novel co-design methodology employed to create the TREK 'My Knee' toolkit facilitated the alignment of the content and usability to meet the broad education needs of people with knee osteoarthritis and health professionals. This toolkit aims to improve and facilitate engagement with guideline-recommended first-line care for people with knee osteoarthritis. Future work will determine its effectiveness in improving clinical outcomes in this population.