About this Research Topic
Participatory approaches have become an integral part in various fields of public health and health promotion research. The hallmark of participatory research is the establishment of equitable research partnerships with a diverse group of stakeholders such as public health professionals, health activists and community representatives. This includes co-creation as a guiding principle that informs several aspects of the research process. Originally, co-creation is a concept from management science and software design and is focused on achieving synergistic effects through user participation in design processes. Co-creation in health promotion aims to improve the life of those who are subjects of research by giving them a stake how studies are carried out, respectively how health promoting services, programmes or products are designed and provided. Participation asks for a systematic reflection of underlying power relations in the research process through dialog, recursive methods of understanding, and joint planning.
Implementing and realizing participatory co-creation is challenging. Different methods and systematic approaches have been applied to ensure the early involvement of users in innovation processes. Only few methodologies detail how to incorporate community/user values with scientific evidence. In order to overcome the challenges for developers of innovative products, services and programmes in the field of health promotion and education more research is needed about the important factors contributing to successful co-creation processes. This article collection will present relevant co-creation concepts and methods. Additionally, illustrative examples from cutting-edge research practice shall be provided that will outline ways for implementing co-creation in the context of health promotion.
The aim of the current Research Topic is to cover promising, recent, and novel research examples in participatory co-creation in health promotion and education. The focus of the studies can be either on the co-creation process and its impact on the communities or user involved or on the co-creation specific outcomes regards the effectiveness of services, products and programmes. Areas to be covered in this Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
· Theoretical or review papers about the guiding principles and methodologies in co-creation in health promotion;
· Qualitative or quantitative studies about power-relations, recursive methods of understanding, and joint planning in co-creation projects;
· Qualitative or quantitative studies focusing on outcomes of co-creation processes for users/communities and stakeholders involved and/or for the end product;
· Case studies summarizing lessons learned from co-creation processes for health promotion practice.
Implementing and realizing participatory co-creation is challenging. Different methods and systematic approaches have been applied to ensure the early involvement of users in innovation processes. Only few methodologies detail how to incorporate community/user values with scientific evidence. In order to overcome the challenges for developers of innovative products, services and programmes in the field of health promotion and education more research is needed about the important factors contributing to successful co-creation processes. This article collection will present relevant co-creation concepts and methods. Additionally, illustrative examples from cutting-edge research practice shall be provided that will outline ways for implementing co-creation in the context of health promotion.
The aim of the current Research Topic is to cover promising, recent, and novel research examples in participatory co-creation in health promotion and education. The focus of the studies can be either on the co-creation process and its impact on the communities or user involved or on the co-creation specific outcomes regards the effectiveness of services, products and programmes. Areas to be covered in this Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
· Theoretical or review papers about the guiding principles and methodologies in co-creation in health promotion;
· Qualitative or quantitative studies about power-relations, recursive methods of understanding, and joint planning in co-creation projects;
· Qualitative or quantitative studies focusing on outcomes of co-creation processes for users/communities and stakeholders involved and/or for the end product;
· Case studies summarizing lessons learned from co-creation processes for health promotion practice.
Keywords: Co-creation, participatory research, Co-production, health promotion, prevention
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