Client: TrygFonden & The Danish Resuscitation Council

Empowering Stroke Prevention & Faster Emergency Response

Emergency Response, Healthcare, NGO

Challenge

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death in Denmark and the leading cause of disability among adults. When stroke strikes, every minute matters. Quick treatment can mean the difference between life and death—and whether a person can return to a good life afterwards.

Yet, many citizens and relatives either fail to recognize the symptoms or hesitate to call 1-1-2 (911). To tackle this challenge, TrygFonden and the Danish Resuscitation Council (DRG) partnered with us to apply nudging and behavioral design. The aim was to create innovative, evidence-based behavior change solutions that help bystanders, relatives, and caregivers act fast in the critical moment—by calling 1-1-2 immediately.

“Before this project, we were not very familiar with how to apply behavioral design into the field of stroke. But through our collaboration with Krukow, we gained innovative, forward-thinking solutions that we believe will truly make a difference for families and patients—by helping more people react to stroke symptoms in time and receive the right treatment.”

Stine Strandkjær, CEO, The Danish Resuscitation Council

Approach

We used a structured behavioral design process to uncover barriers and design nudging solutions that guide people toward faster recognition and action.

Our approach included:

Behavioral research: Mapping existing knowledge, campaigns, and behavioral barriers in Denmark and abroad.
Co-creation workshops: Bringing together EMS personnel, healthcare professionals, home care staff, stroke patients, relatives, TrygFonden, and Danish Resuscitation Council.
Field visits: Ethnographic interviews and observations with citizens, relatives, and professionals to capture real-world behavior. Behavioral analysis: Identifying decision points, barriers, and intuitive triggers across private homes, hospitals, pharmacies, and digital channels.
Design and prototyping: Developing clear, intuitive nudging solutions, fully aligned with Danish Resuscitation Council and TrygFonden’s ‘RedHjernen’ ( ‘Save the Brain’) campaign universe.

Solution

We designed a portfolio of nudging and behavior change solutions—some simple and ready-to-use, others systemic and long-term—covering both prevention and acute stroke situations:

Visual reminders: Multilingual materials showing stroke symptoms for citizens and relatives, distributed via pharmacies, hospitals, and home care services.
Pharmacy nudges: In-store prompts and services to boost participation in preventive health checks (blood pressure, cholesterol).
Digital nudges: Social media reminders targeting citizens turning 50, encouraging preventive health actions.
Stroke “buddy”: A smartphone-based digital assistant using FaceID and voice recognition to detect early stroke symptoms and automatically call 1-1-2.
Default stroke screening: Automatic invitations for citizens turning 55, including VR-based stroke awareness training.
Mobile stroke bus: Bringing preventive screenings to rural areas with limited healthcare access.
Home care tools: Simple checklists, squeeze devices, and nudges integrated into home care staff routines.
Companion solutions: Innovative ideas like training dogs to detect early stroke symptoms.

Impact

By applying nudging and behavioral science, we designed solutions that:
Make it easier for citizens and relatives to recognize stroke symptoms quickly.
Remove barriers to calling 1-1-2 immediately.
Reach vulnerable groups such as older adults, ethnic minorities, and socially disadvantaged citizens.

With this collaboration, TrygFonden and Danish Resuscitation Council now have a behavioral design toolbox that transforms health campaigns into measurable behavior change—helping to save lives and reduce disability caused by stroke.