Building the Capacity of Adolescents as Researchers
The Co‐Creation of the Health Hive Online Course
Datos Bibliográficos
BACKGROUND: Adolescent engagement is critical to ensuring research meets adolescent health and well-being needs; however, it is not common practice. To maintain research quality, meaningful adolescent engagement requires tailored support and training, yet limited resources exist globally. This study aimed to describe the co-creation process and outputs of developing a freely accessible online course to build adolescent research capacity in public health (14-24 years). METHODS: An iterative participatory co-creation research design with four stages, grounded in Positive Youth Development Theory (strengths-based) and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) principles (participatory, inquiry-based and transformative). Adolescents, academics and community partners collaborated at every stage as equal knowledge holders. Stage i: An evidence brief was developed synthesising literature reviews and diverse adolescents' lived experience to inform course development. Stage ii: A co-design workshop was held in March 2025 to design the course structure, style and delivery through interactive group activities, dot-voting and inclusive dialogue. Stage iii: Content was drafted with iterative rounds of feedback with knowledge holders. Stage iv: Course production and user-testing, hosted on Open edX. OUTPUTS: The iterative co-creation process with 37 knowledge holders (43% 14-24 years) led to an online course structured into six core modules: (1) The power of engaging young people in research, (2) What is public research?, (3) Ethics-how to do research the 'right way', (4) Mentally safe participation, (5) How to get involved, and (6) How to apply learnings. Consensus was reached on style and delivery of modules to enhance engagement, content credibility and trust, reflecting adolescent priorities. The course is self-paced (~3 h duration), strengths-based, interactive and accessible (e.g., short videos, quizzes, closed captions, audio-visuals and grade-8 reading level). It launched in October 2025 and is accessible worldwide. CONCLUSION: The co-created accessible online course aims to support adolescents to be active contributors in public health research. This training has potential to create pathways for inclusive and sustained adolescent engagement in research, translating into evidence-based research and policy. Effectiveness of the training will be assessed through a mixed-methods evaluation. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Adolescents were involved in all co-creation stages from inception to delivery, at various capacities within the Health Hive Steering Committee as paid employees. They were provided mentoring and training to fulfil their role throughout each stage. Their contributions included developing the grant proposal, conceptualising the study name and logo, and informing the workshop evidence brief and agenda. They also played an active role at the co-design workshop, including facilitating and presenting. Further, adolescents informed the course structure, content and delivery of the course and provided iterative feedback during the content creation stage. They also featured in the production of course materials including videos and audio recordings and user-tested the course. They also engaged as co-authors of this manuscript (S.W., E.S., K.C., E.W. and D.M.). A checklist adapted by Nagata et al. 2025 of reporting research with adolescent and youth engagement is available in the supporting material
Action research · Citizen journalism · Community-based participatory research · Credibility · Grounded theory · Iterative and incremental development · Participatory action research · Participatory design · Process (computing) · Public engagement · Mental Health and Patient Involvement · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Youth Development and Social Support
Co-creation, co-design, co-production for public health – a perspective on definitions and distinctions
A Systematic Review of Youth Participatory Action Research (Ypar) in the United States
Our future
The inclusion and impact of digital determinants of health in digital nutrition interventions for adolescents
Establishing fundamental co-design principles and strategies for public health research practice
Shifting From Tokenism to Meaningful Adolescent Participation in Research for Obesity Prevention
The public health Cares initiative
Engaging youth in research planning, design and execution
Adolescent Involvement in Co‐Authoring Peer Reviewed Publications
Co‐Designing a Framework for Social Media Health Communication to Young People
Enhancing researcher capacity to engage youth in research
A systematic review of theories, models and frameworks used for youth engagement in health research
Youth engagement in mental health research
A rapid review of guidelines on the involvement of adolescents in health research
An umbrella review of reviews on challenges to meaningful adolescent involvement in health research
Participation their way
Engagement in rapid public health research among young people from underserved communities
Evaluating the effect of a 12-month youth advisory group on adolescent’s leadership skills and perceptions related to chronic disease prevention research
How to address the barriers to meaningful adolescent involvement in health research
How Best to Perform Co-Research With Children and Adolescents
| Velocidad de citación | historical |
|---|---|
| Altamente citado | No |