Philosophy of Population Health - Philosophy for a New Public Health Era

Blending philosophy of science/medicine, public health ethics and history, Philosophy of Population Health offers a framework that explains, analyses and largely endorses the features that define this relatively new field.

List of contents

Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Blueprint of a philosophy of—and for—population health science
A brief overview
Introduction
What is population health science?
Why write a book on philosophy of population health science?
What will this book accomplish?
What are the book’s philosophical methods and commitments?
What this book is not, and what it will not do
Onward
Section 1 What should health mean in population health science?
Chapter 2 A brief history of the social concept of health and its role in population health science
Introduction
The biomedical model and the Biostatistical Theory of health
Population health as (metaphysically) social health
Health is (empirically) social
Conclusion: Moving toward a thoroughly social health concept of health
Case study: The Standing Rock Sioux Water Protectors
Chapter 3 Health as a life course trajectory of complete well-being in social context
Introduction: The many debates over health’s meaning
Life Course Theory
Life course lesson 1: Health is best understood as a lifelong phenomenon, not in time slices
Life course lesson 2: Population health and individual health are best understood as co-developing dynamically
The World Health Organization’s definition of health, not what it seems
The WHO definition of health is not an operationalized tool for health assessment; it is a toolbox that guides the gathering of tools
Making room for health pluralisms: metaphysical, empirical, ethical and methodological
Conclusion: An updated health concept for an expansive population health mission
Case Study: Addressing health disparities between Aboriginal Australians and settler Australians
Section 2 Which causes and effects matter most in population health?
Chapter 4 Expanding the boundaries of population health
Introduction: health as life course of complete well-being in social context calls for a broad health promotion mandate
Continuing from Chapter 3: ‘Health issues’ ≠ ‘healthcare issues’
"Boundary problem" problems
Political theory and population health
An unnecessary philosophical assumption: If X becomes a public health problem then it must be primarily or exclusively a public health problem
An incorrect empirical prediction: Broad conceptions of public health predictably lead to harms to the public health professions or to the populations they serve
The epistemic risks of erring on the side of wide vs. narrow boundaries for public health
Conclusion: Expanding philosophy of population health to catch up with the science and practice
Case Study: Global climate change
Chapter 5 Prioritizing the right population health causes and effects
Introduction: Addressing population health problems at the roots
"Fundamental-cause theory": the wrong name for the right approach
"Fundamental causes": Paramount importance because of a unique type of stability
What is and isn’t wrong with risk factors
Turning attention from "causes of cases" to "causes of incidence"
Philosophy of salutogenesis vs. philosophy of pathogenesis
Conclusion
Case study: Brazil’s AIDS response
Section 3 How can population health science better promote health equity?
Chapter 6 Managing the inevitable trade-offs in population health science practice
Introduction
The problem of heterogeneity: Lumping vs. splitting in population health
The high risk approach vs. the population approach
Decentering the healthcare system to promote population health vs. expanding outward from the healthcare system
Evidence-based medicine vs. public health pragmatism
Conclusion
Case study: the heterogeneous health of migrants
Chapter 7 Ethics and Evidence in the Population Health Equity Debates
Introduction: Population health science and health equity
Health equity is built into population health science
The (real and imagined) consequences of an ambiguous understanding of "health equity"
Equitable health promotion and health governance
Hypothetical problems’ outsized influence in population health equity deliberations
Conclusion
Case study: Investigating racism and racial health disparities
Conclusion
Chapter 8 Humility as the way forward for population health science, and philosophy thereof
Introduction: A spirit of humility and collaboration
Embracing epistemic humility
Sectoral humility: Non-hierarchical intersectorality
Disciplinary Humility: Non-hierarchical interdisciplinarity
Population health science education for health professionals
Population health science education for all
Philosophy of population health science, from a position of service

About the author

Sean A. Valles is Associate Professor, jointly appointed to Michigan State University's Lyman Briggs College and Department of Philosophy, USA.

Summary

Blending philosophy of science/medicine, public health ethics and history, Philosophy of Population Health offers a framework that explains, analyses and largely endorses the features that define this relatively new field.

Additional text

"What is most notable about this book is the way that the author skillfully and with great nuance explicates and distils the arguments of the many debates about population health and the determinants of health. [...] Professor Valles has skillfully drawn together and woven into a coherent framework a diverse set of literature dating back to the 19th century and the origins of social medicine. He does justice to the literature and acknowledges the importance of integrating elements of modern preventive medicine with a sustained explication of the work of Geoffrey Rose. He also highlights the significance of modern frameworks such as the WHO Social Determinants of Health Commission."
Ross Upshur (University of Toronto) for theKennedy Institute of Ethics Journal
Valles deftly and compellingly responds to critics who see the turn to upstream determinants as overly broadening the domain of health and the purview of the medical and public health communities. [...] His work will be enormously useful to anyone eager for a thoughtful analysis of population health and it lays down a foundation for continuing conversations about what this exciting new field can and should be.
Christine A. Bachrach (Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science) for the American Journal of Preventive Medicine
The book is very accessible; no prior knowledge in philosophy or population health is necessary, although it would be helpful at times. Therefore, I do not hesitate to recommend it to a broad readership. Any population health practitioner or theoretician interested in thinking about meaning, reasoning, and ethics in population health will benefit from reading Valles’s arguments, whether she works primarily in health care or comes from a public health perspective. I think the book would be a particularly interesting choice for interdisciplinary courses in public health ethics and medical humanities programs. Graduate students should be aware of the growing literature at the intersection between philosophy and population health. May these ideas catch on and contribute to better health for all.Olaf Dammann (Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston)for the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH)

Product details

• Authors: Sean Valles, Sean A Valles, Sean a (Michigan State University Valles, Sean A. Valles
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.05.2018
• EAN: 9781138059900
• ISBN: 978-1-138-05990-0
• No. of pages: 224
• Series: History and Philosophy of Biology; History and Philosophy of Biology
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Education > Social education, social work; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > General; Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Politics; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; SOCIAL SCIENCE / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, Philosophy of Science, History of Science, Public health & preventive medicine, Public health and preventive medicine