Creative and Participatory Approaches for Human-Centred Digital Health: Advancing Innovation through Arts, Co-Creation and Lived Experience

Digital health is transforming the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and long-term management of health conditions at an unprecedented pace. Advances in artificial intelligence, virtual human twins, digital therapeutics, wearable technologies, robotics and immersive environments are creating new opportunities for more personalized and efficient healthcare. However, technological sophistication alone is insufficient to ensure that digital innovations are meaningful, equitable and sustainable. Increasingly, researchers, healthcare providers, patients and policymakers recognize that digital health must be fundamentally human-centered, reflecting the needs, values, preferences and lived experiences of the people it is intended to serve.

This Research Topic seeks to explore how creative approaches can contribute to the development, implementation and evaluation of more human-centered digital health solutions. Creativity extends beyond technological innovation and encompasses artistic methodologies, design thinking, participatory research, citizen science, co-design, co-creation, living labs, community engagement and other collaborative approaches that actively involve patients, informal carers, healthcare professionals and wider stakeholders throughout the innovation process. process. Such approaches have the potential to foster trust, improve accessibility and health literacy, strengthen inclusion, address ethical challenges and enhance the adoption and real-world impact of digital health technologies in both single or multistakeholder environments.

The collection particularly welcomes interdisciplinary contributions that bridge health sciences, social sciences, humanities, design, engineering and the arts. Artistic methods, including visual arts, storytelling, theatre, music, creative writing, digital media and speculative design, are increasingly recognized as valuable tools for understanding lived experience, facilitating dialogue, generating new perspectives and translating complex scientific concepts into accessible forms. Similarly, participatory methodologies offer opportunities to redistribute power within research and innovation, enabling citizens and patients to become active contributors rather than passive recipients of technological development.



Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

o Participatory design and co-creation of digital health technologies

o Patient and public involvement and engagement in digital health research

o Living labs and real-world experimentation in digital health

o Arts-based methods for health innovation and knowledge translation

o Digital integrated storytelling and narrative medicine

o Creative approaches to improving health literacy and digital inclusion

o Participatory artificial intelligence and trustworthy AI development

o Ethical and responsible innovation in digital health

o Inclusive design for underserved and marginalized populations

o Cultural adaptation of digital health interventions

o Serious games and immersive technologies developed through participatory approaches

o Citizen science in digital health research

o Evaluation frameworks for creative and participatory methodologies

o Policy, governance and implementation strategies supporting human-centred digital transformation

This Research Topic was launched in collaboration with the 11th International Digital Public Health Conference, a world-leading annual interdisciplinary event on research and innovation in digital public health, organized by University College London. We welcome submissions from speakers, attendees and the broader research community.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Human-Centered Digital Health, Co-Creation and Participatory Design, Digital Inclusion and Health Literacy, Patient and Public Involvement (PPI), Society Affiliation RT

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.