Engaging Stakeholders in Mapping and Modeling Complex Systems Structure to Inform Population Health Research and Action

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Systems science methods are designed to study “wholes” and to support decision-making in the context of complexity. While these methods are powerful in the hands of researchers, they can be transformative when used collaboratively with the stakeholders impacted by and capable of impacting a population health phenomena. This chapter introduces group model building (GMB), developed by practitioners of system dynamics seeking to meaningfully engage system stakeholders in all stages of model building and use. The authors describe the general approach, its alignment with community-based participatory research, and the role system dynamics artifacts and other system maps serve as “boundary objects” to facilitate co-learning and collaboration among individuals with diverse experiences, world views, disciplinary backgrounds, and/or organizational affiliations. The chapter introduces emerging examples of GMB processes, adapted for use with other systems science modeling methods, as well as other examples of collaborative system mapping that can accentuate the GMB toolbox and generate additional boundary objects</jats:p>