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The peer-reviewed journal of the Sax Institute
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Co-creation, co-design, co-production for public health – a perspective on definitions and distinctions

Carmen Vargas A * , Jill Whelan B , Julie Brimblecombe C and Steven Allender A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Institute of Health Transformation, Global Obesity Centre, School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

B Institute of Health Transformation, Global Obesity Centre, School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

C Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

* Correspondence to: carmen.vargas@deakin.edu.au

Public Health Research and Practice 32, e3222211 https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp3222211
Published: 15 June 2022

2022 © Vargas et al. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence, which allows others to redistribute, adapt and share this work non-commercially provided they attribute the work and any adapted version of it is distributed under the same Creative Commons licence terms.

Abstract

Collaboration between community members, researchers, and policy makers drives efforts to solve complex health problems such as obesity, alcohol misuse, and type 2 diabetes. Community participation is essential to ensure the optimal design, implementation and evaluation of resulting initiatives. The terms ‘co-creation’, ‘co-design’ and ‘co-production’ have been used interchangeably to describe the development of initiatives involving multiple stakeholders. While commonalities exist across these concepts, they have essential distinctions for public health, particularly related to the role of stakeholders and the extent and timing of their engagement. We summarise these similarities and differences drawing from the cross-disciplinary literature, including public administration and governance, service management, design, marketing and public health. Co-creation is an overarching guiding principle encompassing co-design and co-production. A clear definition of these terms clarifies aspects of participatory action research for community-based public health initiatives.