Public Health Evidence Tackling Health Inequalities

by Killoran, Amanda; Swann, Catherine; Kelly, Michael P; Ellis, Simon; Kanaris, Astero; Morgan, Antony; Millward, Louise; Naidoo, Bhash; Taylor, Loraine

• ISBN13: 9780198520832
• ISBN10: 0198520832
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-28
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

As public health issues have gained an increasingly high political profile, the need for policy and management decisions to be informed by robust evidence of the effectiveness is now viewed as crucial. While evidence-based medicine is a well accepted feature in clinical health care, publichealth interventions are inherently more complex and present both significant challenges and opportunities for advancing this approach. In England, developments include the setting up of the Centre of Public Health Excellence, at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), with the responsibility for providing evidence and guidelines on the effectiveness of interventions and programmes in priority areas ofpublic health. Further important contributions are also being made by many other research centres and groups. This book presents many of these contributions and provides a state of the art compendium on this subject. Inequality in health is a widespread problem, and the themes discussed here canbe used for international comparison and application. Public health evidence examines: international trends in social inequalities in health; the role of evidence in public health policy development and practice; the infrastructure of the UK evidence-based approach; selected examples of how evidence is being applied to reduce health inequalities inEngland; the methodological challenges involved in evaluating interventions and the synthesis of evidence; and how to take this approach forward. The key message is that tackling health inequalities and implementing the evidence-based approach will require commitment from all those involved; researchers, academics, policy makers, the public and private sector, practitioners, the NHS, and local government. But health inequalities are acommon problem facing more developed countries, and the book has international relevance. This timely contribution pushes the boundaries of thinking on research in public health.

Table of Contents

Foreword	v
Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(18)
Section 1 Towards evidence-based policy and practice	19	(58)
Editorial comment	21	(56)
1 Patterns and trends in inequalities in health: an international phenomenon	23	(18)
Mel Bartley, Martin Bobak, and Michael Marmot
2 The development of an evidence-based approach to tackling health inequalities in Britain	41	(22)
Michael P. Kelly
3 Social determinants and public health policy in the UK	63	(16)
Hilary Graham
Section 2 Systems and structures for developing an evidence-based approach to tackling health inequalities	77	(140)
Editorial comment	79	(88)
4 Building the evidence base: the contribution of the Department of Health's Policy Research Programme (England)	83	(12)
Christine McGuire
5 The Centre for Reviews and Dissemination	95	(20)
Amanda Sowden and Julie Glanville
6 The Cochrane Collaboration	115	(10)
Mike Clarke
7 Accumulating evidence to bring policy, practice, and research together	125	(16)
Sandy Oliver, James Thomas, Angela Harden, and Ann Oakley
8 The Centre for Evidence-Based Public Health Policy: part of the ESRC Evidence Network	141	(14)
M. Petticrew, M. Whitehead, C. Bambra, M. Egan, H. Graham, S. Macintyre, and E. McDermott
9 What works for children?	155	(12)
Kristin Liabo, Sarah Frost, Diana McNeish, Trevor Sheldon, and Helen Roberts
10 The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence	167	(20)
Peter Littlejohns
11 Health Evidence Bulletins Wales	187	(14)
Alison Weightman and Edward Coyle
12 Evidence, policy, and practice: developing collaborative approaches in Scotland	201	(16)
Erica Wimbush, Helen Harper, Daniel Wight, Laurence Gruer, Matthew Lowther, Jackie Gordon, and Shirley Fraser
Section 3 Concepts and methods for evaluation and synthesis of the evidence	217	(106)
Editorial comment	219	(4)
13 Simple principles for the evaluation of complex programmes	223	(16)
Ray Pawson
14 Systematic or unsystematic, is that the question? Some reflections on the science, art, and politics of reviewing research evidence	239	(12)
Martyn Hammersley
15 Research synthesis for tackling health inequalities: lessons from methods developed within systematic reviews with a focus on marginalized groups	251	(18)
Sandy Oliver, James Thomas, Angela Harden, Jonathan Shepherd, and Ann Oakley
16 Evidence from qualitative and quantitative research	269	(14)
Mary Dixon-Woods
17 Evidence for public health practice: conceptual and methodological challenges	283	(16)
Catherine Swann, Bhash Naidoo, and Michael P. Kelly
18 What evidence do we have on implementation?	299	(10)
Helen Roberts, Lisa Arai, Katrina Roen, and Jennie Popay
19 The Bayesian approach to decision-making	309	(14)
Jack Dowie
Section 4 Putting evidence into policy and practice: examples and lessons	323	(124)
Editorial comment	325	(4)
20 Teenage pregnancy policy and practice: the application of evidence	329	(12)
Catherine Dennison and Geraldine McCormick
21 Smoking cessation: an evidence-based approach to tackling health inequalities?	341	(22)
Amanda Killoran, Lesley Owen, and Linda Bauld
22 Ethnicity	363	(16)
Mark R.D. Johnson
23 Tackling health inequalities at the community level: neighbourhood renewal and the new deal for communities	379	(14)
Jean Peters and Elizabeth Goyder
24 Healthy Living Centres	393	(22)
Dione Hills and Elliot Stern
25 Health Action Zones	415	(16)
Michaela Benzeval
26 Evidence into practice for service improvement in health care: experience from the NHS Modernization Agency	431	(16)
Diane Ketley and Rose Gollop
Section 5 Developments and experiences internationally	447	(76)
Editorial comment	449	(4)
27 Public policies and inequalities in health: challenges and lessons from Finland	453	(18)
Meri Koivusalo
28 Sweden	471	(14)
Sven Andréasson, Sven Bremberg, Carina Källestål, Bernt Lundgren, Paul Nordgren, Liselotte Schäfer Elinder, and Eva Wallin
29 Assessing and addressing health inequalities: the Canadian experience	485	(24)
John Frank, Cam Mustard, Jim Dunn, Nancy Ross, and Ericia Di Ruggiero
30 An evidence-based approach to public health and tackling health inequalities in Ireland and Northern Ireland	509	(14)
Leslie Boydell and Jane Wilde
Section 6 The future: opportunities and challenges	523	(52)
Editorial comment	525	(2)
31 Bringing about social change: implications for health	527	(12)
Phil Hanlon
32 Tackling health inequalities: improving the health of poor groups, narrowing health gaps, and reducing health gradients	539	(14)
Hilary Graham
33 Mapping the life world: a future research priority for public health	553	(22)
Michael P. Kelly
Index	575