School staff experiences on involvement in a co-creation process: a Health CASCADE scoping review and thematic synthesis

Abstract Background Implementing public health interventions in schools requires active involvement of multiple stakeholders and adaptation of interventions to fit local contexts, to account for successful design, implementation, and consequently effectiveness of these interventions. Active collabor...

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Main Authors: Janneke de Boer, Lea Rahel Delfmann, Qingfan An, Quentin Emile Armand Loisel, Lauren McCaffrey, Muguet Koobasi, Veerle Van Oeckel, Sebastien François Martin Chastin, Benedicte Deforche, Teatske Altenburg, Maïté Verloigne, Greet Cardon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-03-01
Series:BMC Public Health
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22063-1
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author Janneke de Boer
Lea Rahel Delfmann
Qingfan An
Quentin Emile Armand Loisel
Lauren McCaffrey
Muguet Koobasi
Veerle Van Oeckel
Sebastien François Martin Chastin
Benedicte Deforche
Teatske Altenburg
Maïté Verloigne
Greet Cardon
author_facet Janneke de Boer
Lea Rahel Delfmann
Qingfan An
Quentin Emile Armand Loisel
Lauren McCaffrey
Muguet Koobasi
Veerle Van Oeckel
Sebastien François Martin Chastin
Benedicte Deforche
Teatske Altenburg
Maïté Verloigne
Greet Cardon
author_sort Janneke de Boer
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Implementing public health interventions in schools requires active involvement of multiple stakeholders and adaptation of interventions to fit local contexts, to account for successful design, implementation, and consequently effectiveness of these interventions. Active collaboration, preferably in a co-creation process, with school staff is needed to enhance the implementation of school-based public health interventions. However, involving them in research through a co-creation process is challenging due to competing demands on their time. Hence, there is a need for insights into the factors facilitating or impeding co-creation processes involving school staff. Methods To gain in-depth knowledge of school staff’s experiences a scoping review and thematic synthesis have been conducted. Peer reviewed articles written in English and published between January 2012 and November 2023 were retrieved from ERIC, Education Database, Medline (PubMed interface), Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and Health CASCADE Co-creation Database. Considering the high amount of search results the title and abstract screening was performed using ASReview. A thematic synthesis was conducted on the included articles. Results Ten scientific peer reviewed articles were included and thematically synthesised. Six descriptive themes described factors influencing the co-creation process, including competing work roles and responsibilities of school staff, multistakeholder collaboration, benefits of participation in the co-creation process, power imbalances between different stakeholders, and school staff’s lived experiences. Additionally, four analytical themes emerged indicating that demands of the co-creation process outweigh its benefits. To tackle excessive demands school staff preferred a guided process in which high-level participation was less important. School staff joined the co-creation process to serve students and emphasised the importance of being heard and taken seriously. Conclusions School staff indicated that excessive demands outweigh the benefits experienced during the co-creation process. Therefore, school staff preferred less time-intensive processes. Improving students outcomes was school staff’s motivation to be involved, which asks for processes with student-related goals and observable student benefits. Moreover, school staff needs to be acknowledged as an expert and valued for their involvement. These results should be considered to make co-creation processes involving school staff more feasible and satisfactory.
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spelling doaj-art-5de73ffdf627451b984bb3488bea4b8c2025-08-20T03:05:45ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582025-03-0125111510.1186/s12889-025-22063-1School staff experiences on involvement in a co-creation process: a Health CASCADE scoping review and thematic synthesisJanneke de Boer0Lea Rahel Delfmann1Qingfan An2Quentin Emile Armand Loisel3Lauren McCaffrey4Muguet Koobasi5Veerle Van Oeckel6Sebastien François Martin Chastin7Benedicte Deforche8Teatske Altenburg9Maïté Verloigne10Greet Cardon11Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Physiotherapy, Umeå UniversitySchool of Health and Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian UniversitySchool of Health and Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityKnowledge Centre for Health Ghent, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Movement and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Movement and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityAbstract Background Implementing public health interventions in schools requires active involvement of multiple stakeholders and adaptation of interventions to fit local contexts, to account for successful design, implementation, and consequently effectiveness of these interventions. Active collaboration, preferably in a co-creation process, with school staff is needed to enhance the implementation of school-based public health interventions. However, involving them in research through a co-creation process is challenging due to competing demands on their time. Hence, there is a need for insights into the factors facilitating or impeding co-creation processes involving school staff. Methods To gain in-depth knowledge of school staff’s experiences a scoping review and thematic synthesis have been conducted. Peer reviewed articles written in English and published between January 2012 and November 2023 were retrieved from ERIC, Education Database, Medline (PubMed interface), Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and Health CASCADE Co-creation Database. Considering the high amount of search results the title and abstract screening was performed using ASReview. A thematic synthesis was conducted on the included articles. Results Ten scientific peer reviewed articles were included and thematically synthesised. Six descriptive themes described factors influencing the co-creation process, including competing work roles and responsibilities of school staff, multistakeholder collaboration, benefits of participation in the co-creation process, power imbalances between different stakeholders, and school staff’s lived experiences. Additionally, four analytical themes emerged indicating that demands of the co-creation process outweigh its benefits. To tackle excessive demands school staff preferred a guided process in which high-level participation was less important. School staff joined the co-creation process to serve students and emphasised the importance of being heard and taken seriously. Conclusions School staff indicated that excessive demands outweigh the benefits experienced during the co-creation process. Therefore, school staff preferred less time-intensive processes. Improving students outcomes was school staff’s motivation to be involved, which asks for processes with student-related goals and observable student benefits. Moreover, school staff needs to be acknowledged as an expert and valued for their involvement. These results should be considered to make co-creation processes involving school staff more feasible and satisfactory.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22063-1Co-productionCo-designTeachersPerceptionsSchool-based interventionImplementation
spellingShingle Janneke de Boer
Lea Rahel Delfmann
Qingfan An
Quentin Emile Armand Loisel
Lauren McCaffrey
Muguet Koobasi
Veerle Van Oeckel
Sebastien François Martin Chastin
Benedicte Deforche
Teatske Altenburg
Maïté Verloigne
Greet Cardon
School staff experiences on involvement in a co-creation process: a Health CASCADE scoping review and thematic synthesis
BMC Public Health
Co-production
Co-design
Teachers
Perceptions
School-based intervention
Implementation
title School staff experiences on involvement in a co-creation process: a Health CASCADE scoping review and thematic synthesis
title_full School staff experiences on involvement in a co-creation process: a Health CASCADE scoping review and thematic synthesis
title_fullStr School staff experiences on involvement in a co-creation process: a Health CASCADE scoping review and thematic synthesis
title_full_unstemmed School staff experiences on involvement in a co-creation process: a Health CASCADE scoping review and thematic synthesis
title_short School staff experiences on involvement in a co-creation process: a Health CASCADE scoping review and thematic synthesis
title_sort school staff experiences on involvement in a co creation process a health cascade scoping review and thematic synthesis
topic Co-production
Co-design
Teachers
Perceptions
School-based intervention
Implementation
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22063-1
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