Phase 1 aimed to investigate from different perspectives the feelings and representations concerning the patients, the caregiving and the organization (e.g. service). We met the managers and the practitioners of the three services (24 in total) and some informal caregivers (36 in total). This step seemed necessary to us in order to produce data which could then function as a “solid/concrete” basis for discussion within the conflictual dynamics. In order to produce these data, we decided to use qualitative research tools: semi‐structured interview (Kvale, 1996); focus group (Morgan, 1997); ethnographic observation (Gobo, 2008). We conducted content analysis (using ATLAS.ti as support) on the entire collected data (interviews and focus group transcriptions and ethnographic observation notes), identifying the most salient categories and giving these back to the participants through ad hoc reports in order to decide together the work‐objects of the following phase. This phase allowed the action researchers and participants both to develop deeper knowledge concerning the context, the emergent problem and the objects under investigation, and to orient the PAR.