Social Epidemiology: Strategies for Public Health Activism / Edition 1

by Julie Cwikel , Ph.D.

Overview

By tracking the distribution of disease and pinpointing relevant risk factors, social epidemiology reveals how social problems are intrinsically linked to the health of populations. The practice also takes into account the psychosocial, biological, and medical determinants of disease and health, encouraging a rich and multidisciplinary approach to analyzing and solving complex contemporary social issues.

This book provides a clear and comprehensive set of tools for practice. Julie Cwikel begins with an overview of the historical roots of public health and social medicine and shows how they formed the theoretical basis for current social epidemiological methods. Cwikel then explains the theoretical and programmatic tools social epidemiologists use in their research, program planning, and evaluation. In conclusion, Cwikel demonstrates how the SOCEPID model can be applied to a range of topics, including chronic illness, obesity, violence prevention, occupational health, sexually transmitted diseases (especially HIV), environmental hazards, and addressing the needs of vulnerable populations such as immigrants and trafficked women.

With compelling authority, Cwikel shows readers how the exciting and growing field of social epidemiology is both practical and activist, drawing on cutting-edge empirical findings to conduct policymaking research and promote health at both the personal and population levels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231100489
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	12/12/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	632
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Julie Cwikel is professor in the Spitzer Department of Social Work and founder and director of the Center for Women's Health Studies and Promotion at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Julie Cwikel, MSW, PhD is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Shiva, Israel, where she also founded and co-leads The Center for Women's Health Studies and Promotion. Cwikel is trained in both social work and public health and received her MSW and PhD from the University of Michigan.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations     ix
Preface     xi
Acknowledgments     xv
Introduction     1
Introduction to Social Epidemiology     3
Basic Concepts in Health and Illness     23
The Context for Social Epidemiology     65
Historical Roots of Social Epidemiology     93
A History of Public Health and Medicine     95
The Development of Modern Social Epidemiology     123
Methods     147
Concepts and Theories in Social Epidemiology: The SOCEPID Model     149
Methods of Descriptive Epidemiology     180
Research Design for the Identification of Risk Factors     221
Program Evaluation in Social Epidemiology     262
Following Social Epidemiological Research: Then What?     310
Applications     335
Social Epidemiology Applied to Chronic Disease: Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, Arthritis, Diabetes, and Obesity     337
Injury Control and Violence Prevention     367
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, HIV, and AIDS     400
Environmental Hazards, Occupational Health, and Community Exposures     432
Immigrants, Migrants, and Special Populations: New Challenges in Social Epidemiology and Applications for the Future     472
References     491
Index     597

What People are Saying About This

Lester Breslow

This book presents an excellent delineation of a health endeavor that is deservedly coming into greater prominence: social epidemiology. First-rate scholarship shows in Julie Cwikel's accounts of social epidemiology's origins in classical epidemiology; its methods in the field; and several major applications, as well as in the extensive references. Cwikel then goes beyond the concept that social epidemiology is concerned only with the social factors in health and disease by including strategies for public health activism.

— Lester Breslow, Dean Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health

Julie Cwikel, MSW, PhD is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Shiva, Israel, where she also founded and co-leads The Center for Women's Health Studies and Promotion. Cwikel is trained in both social work and public health and received her MSW and PhD from the University of Michigan.

Derek Yach

Julie Cwikel's book is timely and needed in an era when epidemiology is regarded as a discipline mainly driven by formulae devoid of values. Her book captures and emphasizes epidemiology's central historical role in defining root and proximate causes and in measuring effects in order to improve population health. This is a welcome and inspiring book.

— Derek Yach, professor and head, Division of Global Health, Yale School of Public Health, and director of the Rockefeller Foundation's program on global health

Editorial Reviews

"A welcome addition to every practitioner and researcher's library, especially physicians"

Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine