“My lived experience was valued”: Co-designing ‘OA Champions’ – A pain science-informed peer mentorship program for people with knee osteoarthritis

Access to first-line care for knee osteoarthritis (OA) is limited. Peer-led strategies offer a promising alternative for delivering support and up-to-date information to help individuals manage knee OA. This study used a co-design approach to develop a pain science-informed peer mentorship program to support knee OA self-management. Peer mentorship involves one-to-one tailored support delivered by a trained mentor with the same condition. Co-design ensures meaningful involvement of end-users across all stages of program development, guaranteeing their needs and preferences are captured. Individuals with knee OA were engaged as equal partners across one rural and four metropolitan co-design workshops. Guided by the Double Diamond design process, workshops utilized a range of participatory strategies and involved both researcher-led and co-researcher-led analysis. Twenty-seven co-researchers (mean age 65.1 [SD 9.3] years; 59% female) participated across the workshops. Co-researchers identified unmet support needs throughout the knee OA journey and informed the type of support that could be offered by peer mentors in these situations, drawing from lived experience. Key components of the program were also informed, including preference for a blended mentor training model, considerations for mentor-mentee matching, the development of mentorship session cards, and the importance of session monitoring. The co-designed peer mentorship program, now ready for pilot feasibility testing, offers a flexible intervention that can be tailored to individual support needs, promoting self-management and disseminating contemporary pain science education. Strong evidence of meaningful end-user involvement also positions this study as an exemplar for engaging people with lived experience in developing complex interventions. PERSPECTIVE: This article presents a multi-stage co-design process that meaningfully involved people with lived experience of knee osteoarthritis to develop a pain-science informed peer mentorship program supporting self-management. Aligning with end-user needs and preferences, the flexible program can be tailored to individual support needs.