New Directions in Research on Public Health and Health Literacy

On Folk Devils, Moral Panics and New Wave Public Health

New wave public health places an emphasis on exhorting individuals to engage in healthy behaviour with good health being a signifier of virtuous moral standing, whereas poor health is often associated with personal moral failings. In effect, the medical is increasingly being collapsed into the moral. This approach is consistent with other aspects of contemporary neolibe...

Health literacy among young adults: a short survey tool for public health and health promotion research.

Health literacy (HL) is context-specific. In public health and health promotion, HL in the private realm refers to individuals' knowledge and skills to prevent disease and to promote health in everyday life. However, there is a scarcity of measurement tools explicitly geared to private realm contexts. Our aim was to develop and test a short survey tool that captures different dimensions of HL i...

Public health in hospitals: new steps in old directions.

A pilot scheme of hospital epidemiologists in the Northern and Yorkshire region has provided an exciting opportunity to promote a public health perspective among hospital clinicians. Responsibilities and roles of the posts include the promotion of clinical effectiveness and evidence-based practice, epidemiological support for audit, research and clinical evaluation, liaison with primary care an...

Policy and environmental change: new directions for public health.

Solving major, persistent public health problems requires new policies and more aggressive, sweeping interventions that affect large populations. We need well-conceived health policies and effective interventions for environmental change, but are we likely to get them? To find out, the Directors of Health Promotion and Education and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiated ...

Traditions, transitions, and transfats: new directions for public health.