Population Health Intervention Research ─ Geographical perspectives

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 CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Geography at Queena€?s University, Canada. Sara McLafferty is Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, USA. Susan J. Elliott is Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo, Canada.