Disseminating for Equity and Justice: Findings From the LIGHT Global Crowdsourcing Open Contest to Reimagine Public Health.

OBJECTIVES

To describe how crowdsourcing contests soliciting art, letters, stories, and poetry were focused on promoting well-being and health information dissemination from the public to the public.

DESIGN

LIGHT (Leaders Igniting Generational Healing and Transformation) launched three online crowdsourcing open calls that were designed using the World Health Organization Tropical Diseases Research (WHO/TDR) practical guide on crowdsourcing in health and health research, which includes the following steps: convening a steering committee, promoting the open call, receiving and judging entries, recognizing finalists, and sharing solutions.

SETTING

The crowdsourcing open calls were held online via the Submittable platform.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 508 submissions by the public were evaluated with the majority of authors and artists identified as female (25.4%) followed by male (15.4%) and ages ranging from 11 to 82 years old.

INTERVENTION

This study utilized crowdsourcing open call contests to engage the public in generating art, letters, stories, and poetry as strategies to effectively promote well-being and disseminate health information to the public.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURED

Effectiveness and creativity of the crowdsourced submissions in proposing new strategies for promoting well-being and disseminating health information through art, letters, stories, and poetry.

RESULTS

The three crowdsourcing open calls received 508 eligible entries (Open call 1 = 155; Open call 2 = 191; Open call 3 = 162). Informed by the combined and modified design justice principles creativity, connections, and community, six unique dissemination strategies emerged for dissemination: (a) positive intersectionality, (b) destigmatization, (c) strength-based, (d) collective approach, (e) cultural identity, and (f) unity in healing. Collectively, there was consensus to innovate dissemination strategies to enhance the appeal of research findings and health communication.

CONCLUSIONS

Rebuilding and building public-driven dissemination strategies will involve reimagining and innovating current dissemination approaches. LIGHT shows the feasibility of engaging a diverse broad audience to generate ideas and perspectives on promoting health information dissemination to the public.