Hi there,
I’m not sure how it compares to the Hawthorn effect, maybe you can compare once I’ve given you my views from this side. From the Co-Creation perspective, how nurses see themselves is vital to the success of the research outcomes. I’ve interviewed nurses individually to gather their views, feelings, thoughts you name it on how they access information to help them in their jobs, how they feel about their work environment, views on IT systems etc. (there’s a lot of background to these particular nurses which I won’t go into here now), but it’s complex rather than complicated. Data is gathered and synthesised to collate themes and patterns arising from their views. For Co-Creation to work effectively, the participants need to be open to it. They’re not going in blindly to the process, the idea is that they become empowered by the process so they take ownership of what they need to change in their working lives. If their attitude, or mindset falls off the wagon then the project stalls. Also depending on their own motivations for participating in the research - they will have their own underlying reasons good bad or indifferent - participant selection is an important part of the co-creation process, but there are deviants and you just can’t predict the behaviour of participants.
Your last point is an interesting one indeed… I certainly believe design does change behaviour, and more specifically mindsets.