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 technologieso Patient and public involvement and engagement in digital health researcho Living labs and real-world experimentation in digital healtho Arts-based methods for health innovation and knowledge translationo Digital integrated storytelling and narrative medicineo Creative approaches to improving health literacy and digital inclusiono Participatory artificial intelligence and trustworthy AI developmento Ethical and responsible innovation in digital healtho Inclusive design for underserved and marginalized populationso Cultural adaptation of digital health interventionso Serious games and immersive technologies developed through participatory approacheso Citizen science in digital health researcho Evaluation frameworks for creative and participatory methodologieso Policy, governance and implementation strategies supporting human-centred digital transformationWe acknowledge the initiation and support of this Research Topic by University College London’s RDR Centre of Digital Public Health in Emergencies (dPHE). We hereby state publicly that UCL’s RDR Centre of dPHE has had no editorial input in articles included in this Research Topic, thus ensuring that all aspects of this Research Topic are evaluated objectively, and unbiased by any specific policy or opinion of UCL’s RDR Centre of dPHE. Topic editors: Lars Münter, Carina Dantas Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83416/creative-and-participatory-approaches-for-human-centred-digital-health-advancing-innovation-through-arts-co-creation-and-lived-experience