Better aligning digital applications in the healthcare sector with the needs of patients: this is the aim of the accompanying research project "CoCre-HIT", which is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research with almost EUR 1.5 million.

The abbreviation "CoCre-HIT" stands for "Co-Creation and Sustainable Participation in the Development of Hybrid Health IT". It addresses two particular challenges in the development of applications for e-health and telemedicine. On the one hand, "participation" or patient involvement in the development of digital products is currently a major trend. If you take a closer look, however, it often becomes clear that participation formats are very different and vary from a few interviews to actual opportunities to have a say. One of the aims of CoCre-HIT is to systematize and prepare corresponding approaches and methods. On the other hand, the focus is on so-called "hybrid" digital systems, which, due to the current pandemic conditions, appear to be a promising support for communication and coordination in the health sector, but also for the promotion of social participation and well-being for people with health restrictions, especially under the constraints of contact restrictions. In this sense, hybrid means that IT systems should be able to support both face-to-face and online interactions.

Over the next three years (2021-2024), CoCre-HIT will accompany the development of hybrid health IT in seven technology development projects funded by the BMBF and support and accompany the projects in the application of co-creative and participatory methods.

The starting signal was given in mid-November with a joint meeting of all partners, to which Prof. Claudia Müller had invited to Siegen. Due to the current pandemic situation, it was necessary to switch to a hybrid meeting at short notice. The first project meeting thus unintentionally became a test case for a successfully implemented collaboration in a mixed form with both on-site and online participants.