Background As many as 1-in-5 people are living with chronic pain (pain for three or more months) in the UK. Living with a long-term health condition can increase the likelihood of experiencing poor mental health. Having access to high-quality resources to raise mental health awareness and support good mental health among this population is crucial. Co-production of patient-facing resources with people with lived experience of health conditions (experts by experience) has been acknowledged as an important way of achieving impact and engagement.

Objectives To describe how branding and design expertise was used to co-produce with experts by experience evidence-based, patient-facing animations to support the mental health needs of people with chronic pain.

Methods A task and finish group (n=10) met virtually six times over 12 months from March 2020. The group included patients, public, representatives of charities, hospital volunteers, researchers and design experts. The group started with a blank canvas and worked together to decide which evidence-based messages to include in the resources, their format and style, and where and how they would be implemented.

The group decided to create one website to host branded resources:

• A positive and informative animation and social media content

• Free online training for healthcare professionals, public and volunteers to improve awareness of the links between pain and mental health

• A library of local support resources

The marketing and design experts facilitated collaborative working to develop clinical (physiotherapist, general practitioner) and patient (retired, volunteer, carer) ‘personas’ to better understand the intended resource end-users. The group explored in-depth the emotions, thoughts and actions conveyed by the resources through word clouds and brainstorming. This helped the group to create a brand, the central character and provided vision for the style of the resources. Through facilitated discussion with design experts, the group co-produced animation storyboards, the plain language text on the website, training package, animation and local support library, and the final overall brand by choosing logos, colour schemes, fonts and images.

Results The group chose Support, Progression and Freedom through ‘Mind and Movement’ as the key words on which to base the resources. Patients and the public suggested that a human character would not represent all people living with chronic pain; so, a bee was chosen to be the central character. It was agreed that the bee personified the key words whilst generating an engaging theme. The group agreed to name the resource package ‘BeeFree’ with the website slogan ‘a support hive for mind and movement’. All resources were based around five evidence-based messages (Get Active, Get Talking, Get Creative, Eat Well and Sleep Well) called ‘The Hive Five’ and were housed on a new branded website - www.beefree.org.uk BeeFree was successfully launched online via regional NHS Trusts, charity and voluntary groups, First Contact Physiotherapy networks and social media in 2021. Patients and the public championed the resources and facilitated the launch. Challenges for the clinical group members included negotiating time and commitment to the work amidst multiple pandemic-related NHS pressures, and for the public group members there were difficulties adapting to working collaboratively online.

Figure 1.

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Conclusion Co-creating a positive, recognisable brand with patients and the public can facilitate the promotion and impact of evidence-based messages into healthcare. In the pandemic online co-production approaches offered creative adaptations to bring together stakeholders. Utilising design expertise and taking time to build and nurture relationships with patients and the public resulted in valuable and insightful co-production and consequently highly accessible and engaging resources.

Acknowledgements Midlands Partnership NHS Trust, North Staffordshire NHS Combined Healthcare Trust, Haywood Foundation, Mind, Q Lab, Health Foundation, More Than Just Design.

Disclosure of Interests None Declared.

Keywords: Mental health, Pain, Patient information and education

DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2023-eular.2687