Population Health Intervention Research

Health geographers are well situated for undertaking population health intervention research (PHIR), and have an opportunity to be at the forefront of this emerging area of inquiry. However, in order to advance PHIR, the scientific community needs to be innovative with its methodologies, theories, and ability to think critically about population health issues. For example, using alternatives (e.g. community-based participatory research) to traditional study designs such as the randomised control trial, health geographers can contribute in important ways to understanding the complex relationships between population health (both intended and unintended consequences), interventions and place. Representing a diverse array of health concerns ranging across chronic and infectious diseases, and research employing varied qualitative and quantitative methodologies, the contributions to this book illustrate how geographic concepts and approaches have informed the design and planning of intervention(s) and/or the evaluation of health impacts. For example, the authors argue that geographically targeting interventions to places of high-need and tailoring interventions to local place contexts are critically important for intervention success. Including an afterword by Professor Louise Potvin, this book will appeal to researchers interested in population and public/community health and epidemiology as well as health geography.

Daniel W. Harrington is an Epidemiologist Lead at Public Health Ontario, and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Sara McLafferty is Professor of Geography and Geographic Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Susan J. Elliott is Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo, Canada.

1. Introduction 2. Partnerships to improve population health and health equity: geographic perspectives 3. The vacant land inventory: an approach to support vacant lot redevelopment for population health improvement in Milwaukee, WI, USA 4. Spatial analysis of HIV/AIDS survival in Dallas County, Texas 5. From cultural clashes to settlement stressors: a review of HIV prevention interventions for gay and bisexual immigrant men in North America. 6. Making a place for health in vulnerability analysis: a case study on dengue in Malaysia and Brazil 7. The geography of malaria control in the Democratic Republic of Congo 8. Natural experiments for addressing chronic diseases 9. Shaping the direction of youth health with COMPASS: a research platform for evaluating natural experiments and generating practice-based evidence in school-based prevention 10. School nutrition as an intervention for addressing childhood overweight and obesity 11. Healthy food retail interventions 12. Transforming Local Geographies to Improve Health