In the SHAW project we worked with employers, employees, professional bodies, and other key stakeholders, to deepen our understanding of how work and health are intertwined in older workers’ everyday lives, and to design innovative workplace interventions to support the health and wellbeing of older workers.

In partnership with case study organisations in the finance, manufacturing, and social care sectors, we worked with employees aged 50+ to explore changes in health, and ‘hidden health’ issues in particularly, which tend to be overlooked in workplace health interventions.

After gaining in-depth understanding of the health needs of older workers, we have used a co-design approach to involve older workers in the development and testing of a range of workplace health interventions.

The project was led by the University of Edinburgh Business School and counted on the support of Design Informatics team to carry out the co-design process and develop interventions and outputs.

One of key outcomes of the project is SHAW App, a bespoke web-based service which uses a combination of self-assessed questions drawn from validated scales and AI (LLM) technology to help individuals Reflect on and Review their health and work, and then take Action to get the support they need.

The App is designed to be applicable for a range of use contexts such as intense work periods, preventative health management, annual reviews and career reviews.

The Reflect and Review aspects of the App have been developed in a proof-of-concept prototype, and tested during the project. The development of the App continues beyond project SHAW, with more user testing with employees and employers, and the development of Action aspect.

The project has finished, but our work continues.