1st Edition

Key Themes in Public Health

By Miranda Thurston Copyright 2014
    238 Pages
    by Routledge

    238 Pages
    by Routledge

    ‘The growth of public health courses aimed at undergraduates has created a new need for textbooks that are appropriate and stimulating. Miranda Thurston has succeeded in producing something which strikes the right note. It is wide ranging in scope without being superficial and is accessible to the young learner. It is a sort of 'Wiki'. Just what the aspiring public health practitioner ordered.’ – Professor John R. Ashton C.B.E., President of the UK Faculty of Public Health.

    Key Themes in Public Health comprises a series of introductory essays exploring key themes and concepts in public health.

    Ranging from political and economic concern with improving population health and reducing health inequalities, to debates about how to protect populations from new health threats, as well as a concern with individual responsibility for lifestyles and behaviour, the themes discussed include: determinants of health, globalisation, evidence, climate change, ethics, development, poverty, risk and population.

    Presenting provocative ways of thinking about key ideas in a concise fashion, each essay provides a basic grounding in the relevant theme as well as a departure point for further study by:

    • Defining the theme in an accessible way
    • Placing each idea in its particular social, political, economic and historical context
    • Illustrating its application and significance for public health

    • Identifying and exploring issues surrounding each of the themes

    This text provides an accessible overview for students new to public health who want to get to grips with the full range and complexity of this diverse and multidisciplinary field.

    Introduction  1. Advocacy  2. Behaviour Change  3. Causality  4. Climate Change and Sustainable Development  5. Community  6. Demography  7. Deprivation and Poverty  8. Determinants of Health  9. Economic and Human Development  10. Education  11. Epidemiology  12. Ethics  13. Evaluation  14. Evidence  15. Global health and Globalization  16. Health  17. Health Education  18. Health Literacy  19. Health Needs  20. Health Promotion and the New Public Health  21. Inequalities in Health  22. Lifecourse  23. Lifestyle  24. Medicine  25. Official Statistics  26. Partnerships and Partnership Working  27. Place  28. Policy  29. Prevention  30. Primary Health Care  31. Risk  32. Screening  33. Settings  34. Social Capital  35. Social Marketing  36. Socialization  37. The Welfare State

    Biography

    Miranda Thurston is Professor of Public Health at Hedmark University College, Norway.

    'Miranda Thurston’s book is a series of introductory essays exploring key themes and concepts in public health. It is arranged in alphabetical order (from ‘Advocacy’ to ‘The welfare state’) for easy reference and each of the themes are highlighted when mentioned in other parts of the book for easy cross-reference. This work is therefore a mini encyclopaedia of public health, but such a description does not diminish its use in any way, as all the concepts, facts and research are incredibly well referenced for further indepth reading.' Ian Brown, Occupational Medicine Volume 65 Issue 1 January 2015

    ‘The growth of public health courses aimed at undergraduates has created a new need for textbooks that are appropriate and stimulating. Miranda Thurston has succeeded in producing something which strikes the right note. It is wide ranging in scope without being superficial and is accessible to the young learner. It is a sort of 'Wiki'. Just what the aspiring public health practitioner ordered.’ – Professor John R. Ashton C.B.E., President of the UK Faculty of Public Health.