Social innovation in health: concepts and practice

Abstract

Social innovations in health are inclusive solutions that meet the needs of end users through community-engaged, person-centred processes.1 The term € person-centred' refers to a holistic, contextual approach in which people are the focus.2 Social innovation and related person-centred approaches have expanded in the past 5 years. Data from randomised controlled trials,3 4 systematic reviews5 6 and other data suggest that social innovation in health approaches can be effective, especially in terms of dealing with some social determinants of health.7 8 Although research reporting guidelines of relevance have been published,9 agreements and integration of ethical guidance on practical issues of related community-engaged research is lacking.