Community Engagement in Social Innovation Research: A Global Sequential Mixed Methods Analysis

Background: Social innovation in health provides innovative solutions to address healthcare delivery gaps and it relies on engaging community. However, little is known about factors that influence community engagement in health research. The study sought an in-depth understanding of elements of community engagement in social innovations identified by the global social innovation in health initiative network. Methods The study employed a sequential mixed methods study approach, which involved a series of semi-structured interviews with 27 social innovators followed by an online survey among social innovation researchers. Semi-structured interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using NVivo 11. Themes identified from the qualitative study informed the development of a survey instrument on community engagement. The survey data were analyzed using STATA version-14 and descriptive statistics were presented. Results Community engagement in social innovation was mostly utilized during during delivery of interventions (213; 79.2%), intervention identification and design (179; 66.5%), and problem identification (167; 62.1%). About half of the social innovations (135; 52.1%) had collaborate or shared leadership level of community engagement. We noted differential participation of community stakeholders at different stages of community engagement in social innovations. Social innovations built capacity of community stakeholders to offer health services to communities. Community engagement in social innovations resulted into intervention acceptance, and improved sustainability and community ownership of interventions. Conclusion The study shows moderate community engagement in social innovations in health. Creating strong governance structures as well as co-creating interventions with communities are vital towards achieving high community engagement in social innovation in health.