Systematic review of contemporary theories used for co-creation, co-design and co-production in public health

Abstract Background: There is a need to systematically identify and summarise the contemporary theories and theoretical frameworks used for co-creation, co-design and co-production in public health research. Methods: The reporting of this systematic review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Given substantial interest in and application of co-creation, co-design and co-production, we searched PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and APA PsycINFO, from 2012 to March–April 2022. A quality assessment and data extraction for theory content was performed. Results: Of the 3,763 unique references identified through the comprehensive search strategy, 10 articles were included in the review: four articles named co-creation, two articles named co-creation and co-design, two articles named co-production and co-design, and two articles named co-design. Empowerment Theory was employed by two articles, whereas other theories (n=5) or frameworks (n=3) were employed by one article each. For the quality assessment, eight articles received a strong rating and two articles received a moderate rating. Conclusion: There is little indication of theory applications for the approaches of co-creation, co-design and co-production in public health since 2012, given ten articles were included in this review. Yet the theories described in these ten articles can be useful for developing such co-approaches in future public health research.PRE-PRINT ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION BY JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH [OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS] ON 28-03-2023. DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdad04