Publications & Articles
Below is a curated collection of research, essays, and thought leadership pieces focused on the concept of coproduction in healthcare. The newest articles can be found near the top.
- Mulvale et. al, 2025
- Calls for coproduction in healthcare have increased as more and more people have recognized the importance of patient involvement and collaboration with clinicians. This article proposes a “sowing and growing model,” where the plant cycle is used as a metaphor to explain how the practice of coproduction can be fostered and expanded in a clinical setting.
- Watch the interview with Gillian Mulvale and Jenn Green
- Jennifer MacLellan, Carmen Byrne, and Catherine Pope
- A 2024 UK study examines how co-production can enhance NHS maternal health services for Black, Asian, and minority ethnic women facing barriers. By engaging these women in structured consultations and workshops, the initiative aimed to bridge gaps between healthcare professionals’ priorities and patient needs. The study emphasizes the importance of sharing power, creating culturally safe spaces for dialogue, and using participatory methods to ensure women’s experiences shape service improvements.
- Mulvale et. al, 2024
- Although coproduction has grown and expanded much over the years, there is still more to learn regarding the process of how it is implemented and what conditions or circumstances foster its emergence. The longitudinal case study discussed in this article focuses on three prominent examples of coproduction in “structurally vulnerable populations.” Commonalities observed between the different cases help inform the circumstances and deliberate efforts that set the stage for coproduction to be utilized. The results demonstrate the significant role system transformation plays in the efficacy of coproduction in a particular environment.
- Opare et. al, 2024
- A 2024 study at KNUST in Ghana examined a co-creation model for enhancing primary health care training in partnership with the University of Toronto. This initiative, part of the Africa Health Collaborative, involved creating and delivering five courses for about 100 Ghanaian healthcare professionals. The approach focused on local needs and involved both Ghanaian and international partners in designing the curriculum. The study highlighted that effective healthcare improvements require direct local stakeholder involvement in shaping educational programs.
Coproduction of healthcare services—from concept to implementation
- Batalden et. al, 2023
- Coproduction in healthcare, especially in a post-COVID world, has allowed patients to feel like they could have conversations with their providers about treatment, resources, or just general concerns in a time of great uncertainty. Coproduction brings patients and providers together as collaborators in one’s health journey, building a strong bond and trust. This article provides an adaptable template with domains and descriptions to help facilitate a reflective thought process to help anyone involved in a clinical encounter evaluate their experience with coproduction. Feedback from these encounters will help make coproduction more than just an “aspirational construct.”
From assurance to coproduction: a century of improving the quality of health-care service
- Batalden & Foster, 2021
- Multiple sources from relevant literature to personal experience are reviewed in this article aimed at describing the timeline and evolution of the focus on quality work and improvement in healthcare. Three main phases are described, with each one becoming more specific and detailed, building on the prior phase(s) and getting closer to the implementation of coproduction with the consideration of healthcare being a service.. As time passes and systems are faced with new questions and challenges, it is crucial to re-evaluate the current framework, and this article discusses that very aspect of healthcare and the role of coproduction in an ever-changing healthcare system.
Science-informed practice: an essential epistemologic contributor to health-care coproduction
- Batalden et. al, 2021
- The implementation of coproduction requires the integration of multiple streams and systems of knowledge or epistemologies, as well as an understanding of the circumstances in which these different frameworks can be applied. This article discusses that very point, emphasizing that the scientific aspect of healthcare must be combined with the patient’s unique experience and knowledge of the present system in order to effectively utilize coproduction. Coproduction is most useful when multiple, relevant streams of knowledge come together under different contexts or circumstances.
The co-production of an intervention package for people living with dementia and their spouses
- Dodd et. al, 2021
- A study conducted in the UK from 2018 to 2020 found that co-production enhanced dementia care by fostering shared decision-making and meaningful conversations between couples in which one partner had dementia. Involving six couples from an NHS memory clinic, the intervention replaced clinician-led interviews with co-designed activities over five weeks, utilizing home-based routines supported by visits.
- Previously, traditional methods failed to engage couples, treating them as respondents rather than active participants. The co-production model allowed couples to choose nostalgic memories and conversation timing, integrating these into their daily lives. Researchers facilitated rather than led, promoting participant autonomy and deepening emotional connections. This approach aligned the intervention with what couples valued, highlighting that sustainable benefits in dementia care arise when services reflect patients’ and caregivers’ lived experiences.
New ways of working: health professional development for effective coproduction
- Foster & Batalden, 2021
- The construction of products is fundamentally different from that of services, with the latter imperative on the collaboration between people. This paper discusses how people come together to integrate “multiple ‘streams’ of knowledge, skill and habit” in order to inform meaningful relationships. This principle is at the very core of coproduction in healthcare, but for clinicians, or anyone who can benefit from the implementation of coproduction, it is important to pay greater attention to it in the professional development process.
- Lachman & Nelson, 2021
- This paper discusses the conditions that can be put in place to foster coproduction in a particular healthcare setting, especially in a post-COVID world. These conditions are said to be essential for the continued implementation of coproduction and to allow it to “become the norm” in clinical practice. The conditions are described under the categories of policy, external evaluation/accreditation, and leadership.
- Mulvale et. al, 2020
- This article discusses the integrative dynamics approach to healthcare, specifically in mental health research. The focus of the article is a study developed to assess an experience-based co-design approach, where user experience is the premise for service design, and how well it aligned with or supported the integrative dynamics approach with regards to patient and family involvement. Rewriting relationships between patients, their families, and clinicians to allow for collaboration as equals is the basis of the integrative dynamics approach in healthcare, an experience-based co-design approach can set the foundation to build greater trust and shared decision making.
Coproduction: when users define quality
- Elwyn et. al, 2019
- Despite the extensive work and outreach done to increase the implementation of coproduction practices in healthcare, there are many systems and organizations that have not fully adopted and utilized it. This paper serves as a call-to-action, encouraging healthcare organizations to reassess their current operation to see how coproduction can help them better deliver care centered around the patient and in collaboration with the patient. Beginning with a brief background on coproduction, the authors build to discuss the great value of coproduction to the quality of care that clinicians can provide.
- Batalden, 2018
- In this paper, one of our founding members, Paul Batalden, shares his expertise from a decade of studying changes in healthcare. Paul discusses the overwhelmingly common delivery of healthcare as a product, which he states is “an oversimplified model.” He instead urges clinicians to consider healthcare as a service, and this consideration is made possible when coproduction is utilized, encouraging clinicians to pay more attention to the “patient’s lived reality.”
Coproduction of healthcare service
- Batalden et. al, 2015
- This article serves to introduce and explain the concept of coproduction in healthcare and its impact on patient engagement in healthcare. It encourages thoughtful, intentional recognition of services, like healthcare, as having the unique feature of coproduction. This key characteristic distinguishes services from products.
Intergroup relationships and quality improvement in healthcare
- Bartunek, 2010
- This article asserts that quality improvement in healthcare fails primarily due to the social and identity-based divisions within organizations, rather than lack of evidence. Strong professional relationships among healthcare providers such as doctors, nurses, and administrators collaborate and the effectiveness of initiatives. This study emphasizes that successful quality efforts occur when professionals adopt a shared identity focused on patient care, demonstrating effective co-production that includes patients and families in decision-making. Transforming relationships, mutual respect, and shared accountability are essential for improving healthcare quality.
All together now: A conceptual exploration of integrated care
- Konder, 2009
- This analysis explored integrated care as a strategy to improve health system performance and patient outcomes, especially for individuals with complex conditions. By aligning services across various providers, integrated care promotes coordinated and continuous treatment rather than fragmented care. It emphasizes collaboration, patient involvement in decision-making, and addresses inefficiency and poor coordination within healthcare systems. The key takeaway is that aligning services with patient needs enhances care quality and satisfaction.