Health and Society – serie

It is imperative that we train leaders who are able to intervene efficiently with service users and to support a better organization of the workplace. It is especially important to look at the many issues related to postsecondary training and human resources, such as recruiting and keeping these leading professionals. Accessibility and Active Offer thus combines theory and empirical data to help future professionals understand the workplace issues of accessibility and active offer of minority-language services. This English-language adaptation of Accessibilite et offre active features an additional chapter by Richard Bourhis on issues specific to Anglophone communities in Quebec. This multidisciplinary collective work is the first to unite researchers in health, social work, sociology, political science, public administration, law and education, in order to gain more thorough knowledge of linguistic issues in health and social services, as well as of active offer of French-language services.

Inappropriate touch cases have sparked public outcry and made headlines, but a discussion on the importance and ethics of positive, caring, appropriate touch in the helping professions such as teaching, nursing and counselling is long overdue. Touch may well be one of the least understood or talked about subjects in the helping professions. A discussion on the importance and ethics of positive, caring, and appropriate touch in professions such as teaching, nursing and counselling is long overdue. Touch in the Helping Professions delivers just that, weaving together scholarly evidence, research and clinical practice from a wide range of perspectives encompassing philosophy, theology, psychology, and anthropology to challenge assumptions about the role of touch in the helping professions. The contributors to the volume focus not only on the overarching roles of gender, age, culture and life experience, but go beyond to encompass canine-assisted therapy, touch deprivation, sacred objects, as well as key ethical considerations. The prevailing lack of dialogue, due to fear of contravening ethical boundaries, has stood in the way of an open and responsible discussion on the use of touch in therapy. Touch in the Helping Professions is a welcome and much needed contribution to the field—a window onto a fundamental need. Published in English.

In the last decades of the 20th century, successive British governments have regarded adolescent pregnancy and childbearing as a significant public health and social problem. Youthful pregnancy was once tackled by attacking young, single mothers but New Labour, through its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, linked early pregnancy to social exclusion rather than personal morality and aimed, instead, to reduce teenage pregnancy and increase young mothers' participation in education and employment. However, the problematisation of early pregnancy has been contested, and it has been suggested that teenage mothers have been made scapegoats for wider, often unsettling, social and demographic changes. The re-evaluation of early pregnancy as problematic means that, in some respects, teenage pregnancy has been 'made' and 'unmade' as a problem.Focusing on the period from the late-1990s to the present, "Teenage pregnancy" examines who is likely to have a baby as a teenager, the consequences of early motherhood and how teenage pregnancy is dealt with in the media. The author argues that society's negative attitude to young mothers is likely to marginalise an already excluded group and that efforts should be focused primarily on supporting young mothers and their children. This comprehensive examination of teenage pregnancy focuses on the situation in the UK, but will be useful for readers in other developed world countries. It will be of interest to students in sociology, social policy, health studies and public health, and also to policy makers and young people's interest groups.

In the last decades of the 20th century, successive British governments have regarded adolescent pregnancy and childbearing as a significant public health and social problem. Youthful pregnancy was once tackled by attacking young, single mothers but New Labour, through its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, linked early pregnancy to social exclusion rather than personal morality and aimed, instead, to reduce teenage pregnancy and increase young mothers' participation in education and employment. However, the problematisation of early pregnancy has been contested, and it has been suggested that teenage mothers have been made scapegoats for wider, often unsettling, social and demographic changes. The re-evaluation of early pregnancy as problematic means that, in some respects, teenage pregnancy has been 'made' and 'unmade' as a problem.Focusing on the period from the late-1990s to the present, "Teenage pregnancy" examines who is likely to have a baby as a teenager, the consequences of early motherhood and how teenage pregnancy is dealt with in the media. The author argues that society's negative attitude to young mothers is likely to marginalise an already excluded group and that efforts should be focused primarily on supporting young mothers and their children. This comprehensive examination of teenage pregnancy focuses on the situation in the UK, but will be useful for readers in other developed world countries. It will be of interest to students in sociology, social policy, health studies and public health, and also to policy makers and young people's interest groups.

With a foreword by Tony Benn.Drawing on clinical experience dating from the birth of the NHS in 1948, Julian Tudor Hart, a politically active GP in a Welsh coal mining community, charts the progress of the NHS from its 19th century origins in workers' mutual aid societies, to its current forced return to the market. His starting point is a detailed analysis of how clinical decisions are made. He explores the changing social relationships in the NHS as a gift economy, how these may be affected by reducing care to commodity status, and the new directions they might take if the NHS resumed progress independently from the market.This edition of this bestselling book has been entirely rewritten with two new chapters, and includes new material on resistance to that world-wide process. The essential principle in the book is that patients need to develop as active citizens and co-producers of health gain in a humanising society and the author's aim is to promote it wherever people recognise that pursuit of profit may be a brake on rational progress.

Foreword by Lisa Berkman, Professor of Public Policy, Harvard UniversityHow welfare states influence population health and health inequalities has long been debated but less well tested by empirical research. This book presents new empirical evidence of the effects of Swedish welfare state structures and policies on the lives of Swedish citizens. The discussion, analysis and innovative theoretical approaches developed in the book have implications for health research and policy beyond Scandinavian borders. Drawing on a rich source of longitudinal data, the Swedish Level of Living Surveys (LNU), and other data, the authors shed light on a number of pertinent issues in health inequality research while at the same time showing how health inequalities have evolved in Sweden over several decades. Topics covered include  how structural conditions relating to family, socio-economic conditions and the welfare state are important in producing health inequalities; how health inequalities change over the lifecourse and the impact of environment on health inequalities - at home, at school, in the workplace.Health inequalities and welfare resources will be invaluable to researchers, students and practitioners in sociology, social epidemiology, public health and social policy interested in the interplay between society and health.

This Handbook is the definitive resource for anyone wishing to quickly look up and understand key concepts and measurements relating to socioeconomic position and inequalities. A range of key concepts is defined and measures of socioeconomic position and inequality described. Alphabetical listings, cross-referencing, graphs and worked examples, references to web and other sources of further information, all contribute to making the Handbook both engaging and accessible for a wide audience.For students, academics and others involved in social science research it answers questions such as:· 'What's the official government measure of poverty?' · 'What factors make up the Townsend Index of Deprivation?'· 'What is a gini coefficient?'· 'I have to write a report on tackling inequalities in my area - what are the key issues I should consider before I begin?'For practitioners, policy makers, journalists and others who must read, understand and use research in fields as diverse as health, criminology, education, the environment, transport and housing it provides a one-stop, authoritative guide to making sense of and evaluating the significance of often complex methodologies.The authors are all eminent researchers in the field of health inequalities. They have together produced two glossaries for the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health and have published a large number of books and articles in learned academic journals.

Improving health in populations in which health is poor is a complex process. This book argues that the traditional government approach of exhorting individuals to live healthier lifestyles is not enough - action to promote public health needs to take place not just through public agencies, but also by engaging community assets and resources in their broadest sense.The book reports lessons from the experience of planning, establishing and delivering such action by the five-year Sustainable Health Action Research Programme (SHARP) in Wales. It critically examines the experience of SHARP in relation to current literature on policy; community health and health inequalities; and action research. The authors make clear how this regional development has produced opportunities for developing general concepts and theory about community-based policy developments that are relevant across national boundaries and show that complex and sustained community action, and effective local partnership, are fundamental components of the mix of factors required to address health inequalities successfully.The book concludes by indicating the connections between SHARP and earlier traditions of community-based action, and by arguing that we need to be bolder in our approaches to community-based health improvement and more flexible in our understanding of the ways in which knowledge and inform developments in health policy.The book will be of interest to practitioners and activists working in community-based projects; students in community development, health studies and medical sociology; professionals working in health promotion, community nursing and allied areas; and policy makers working at local, regional and national levels.

Improving health in populations in which health is poor is a complex process. This book argues that the traditional government approach of exhorting individuals to live healthier lifestyles is not enough - action to promote public health needs to take place not just through public agencies, but also by engaging community assets and resources in their broadest sense.The book reports lessons from the experience of planning, establishing and delivering such action by the five-year Sustainable Health Action Research Programme (SHARP) in Wales. It critically examines the experience of SHARP in relation to current literature on policy; community health and health inequalities; and action research. The authors make clear how this regional development has produced opportunities for developing general concepts and theory about community-based policy developments that are relevant across national boundaries and show that complex and sustained community action, and effective local partnership, are fundamental components of the mix of factors required to address health inequalities successfully.The book concludes by indicating the connections between SHARP and earlier traditions of community-based action, and by arguing that we need to be bolder in our approaches to community-based health improvement and more flexible in our understanding of the ways in which knowledge and inform developments in health policy.The book will be of interest to practitioners and activists working in community-based projects; students in community development, health studies and medical sociology; professionals working in health promotion, community nursing and allied areas; and policy makers working at local, regional and national levels.

Genetic epidemiology is a very rapidly developing field that has acquired a central role in modern biomedical science. Until now there has been no comprehensive introductory text for students and academics who do not have specialised training in statistics or genetics. This book begins with a primer in human molecular genetics and then examines standard methods in population genetics and genetic epidemiology required for an adequate grounding in the field. Among much else, the book contains discussion of the public health aspects of the new genetics, and of epidemiological methods for studying genes and environmental factors in complex diseases.Written by leading international experts and supplemented by a glossary and in-chapter guides to further reading, this essential textbook will be widely welcomed by teachers and students on many courses internationally.

Genetic epidemiology is a very rapidly developing field that has acquired a central role in modern biomedical science. Until now there has been no comprehensive introductory text for students and academics who do not have specialised training in statistics or genetics. This book begins with a primer in human molecular genetics and then examines standard methods in population genetics and genetic epidemiology required for an adequate grounding in the field. Among much else, the book contains discussion of the public health aspects of the new genetics, and of epidemiological methods for studying genes and environmental factors in complex diseases.Written by leading international experts and supplemented by a glossary and in-chapter guides to further reading, this essential textbook will be widely welcomed by teachers and students on many courses internationally.