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. 2022 May 9:10:743348.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.743348. eCollection 2022.

A Scoping Review of Citizen Science Approaches in Chronic Disease Prevention

Leah Marks  1   2   3 , Yvonne Laird  3   4 , Helen Trevena  1 , Ben J Smith  3   4 , Samantha Rowbotham  1   2   3
Affiliations

A Scoping Review of Citizen Science Approaches in Chronic Disease Prevention

Leah Marks et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Citizen science approaches, which involve members of the public as active collaborators in scientific research, are increasingly being recognized for their potential benefits in chronic disease prevention. However, understanding the potential applicability, feasibility and impacts of these approaches is necessary if they are to be more widely used. This study aimed to synthesize research that has applied and evaluated citizen science approaches in chronic disease prevention and identify key questions, gaps, and opportunities to inform future work in this field.

Methods: We searched six databases (Scopus, Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, PubMed, and CINAHL) in January 2022 to identify articles on the use of citizen science in prevention. We extracted and synthesized data on key characteristics of citizen science projects, including topics, aims and level of involvement of citizen scientists, as well as methods and findings of evaluations of these projects.

Results: Eighty-one articles reported on citizen science across a variety of health issues, predominantly physical activity and/or nutrition. Projects primarily aimed to identify problems from the perspective of community members; generate and prioritize solutions; develop, test or evaluate interventions; or build community capacity. Most projects were small-scale, and few were co-produced with policy or practice stakeholders. While around half of projects included an evaluation component, overall, there was a lack of robust, in-depth evaluations of the processes and impacts of citizen science projects.

Conclusions: Citizen science approaches are increasingly being used in chronic disease prevention to identify and prioritize community-focused solutions, mobilize support and advocacy, and empower communities to take action to support their health and wellbeing. However, to realize the potential of this approach more attention needs to be paid to demonstrating the feasibility of using citizen science approaches at scale, and to rigorous evaluation of impacts from using these approaches for the diverse stakeholders involved.

Keywords: chronic disease prevention; citizen science (CS); community engagement (CE); health policy; health promotion; participatory research (PR); public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Four models of citizen science characterized by increasing levels of public involvement in the research process. Adapted from Den Broeder et al. (19) and English et al. (21).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Potential applications of citizen science in chronic disease prevention (25).
Figure 3
Figure 3
PRISMA flow diagram.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Key characteristics of included articles (N = 81). From top left to bottom right: (A) Number of articles that reported on citizen science projects or evaluations of citizen science projects; (B) Frequency of articles over time from 2011 to 2021; (C) Number of studies conducted in each continent; (D) Health topic area: number of studies targeting each health topic.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Breakdown of activities performed by citizen scientists in citizen science projects (n = 73).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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