Health research around the world relies on access to data, and much of the most valuable, reliable, and comprehensive data collections are held by governments. These collections, which contain data on whole populations, are a powerful tool in the hands of researchers, especially when they are linked and analyzed, and can help to address “wicked problems” in health and emerging global threats such as COVID-19. At the same time, these data collections contain sensitive information that must ...

This Open Access book examines the implications of welfare policy for energy poverty and engages with key conceptual debates at the forefront of energy demand research. Academic work on energy poverty has rarely been brought into conversation with practice-theory-based approaches to energy use and sustainability. This book reveals how novel insights can be made visible through combining these different ways of thinking about energy demand issues. It presents a distinctive approach to energ...

Making policy is what governments do, but there are some fascinating and hotly debated issues associated with how government decisions get made in the interests of the people. The concept and practice of evidence-based policy-making insists that properly developed public policy draws on the best available evidence. This book considers how governments in Canada have historically interacted with research and what directions these interactions may take in the future. The goal of government maki...

Contemporary social work cannot be understood without an appreciation of the broader context of social policy in which it takes place. Such an understanding is increasingly important as social workers are expected to work across institutional, professional and even national boundaries in new ways profoundly affected by the changing global context.This insightful book examines how shifts in the dominant political ideology have affected the nature of welfare provision, the kinds of s...

As health policy at a national level has ever increasing impact on local health services, it is essential that public health students understand how the development and implementation of policy and strategy provide the framework for improving quality, innovation, productivity and prevention in the delivery of healthcare.The book is divided into two sections, with section one covering a strategic overview of national policies, and section two giving specific local implementation of ...

Activism is action on behalf of a cause, action that goes beyond what is conventional or routine and is relative to the actions by others.Health activism is a growing area of interest for many who work to improve health at both national and international levels because it offers a more direct approach to achieve lasting social and political change. This book, for the first time, provides a clear foundation to the theory, evidence-base and strategies that can be harnessed to bring a...

An understanding of social policy is vital for engaging practically with social work values, and dealing with political and ethical questions about responsibility, rights and our understanding of ‘the good society’. This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to social policy, tailored to the needs of a social work audience.The new edition of this popular and accessible text analyses current policies and policy themes relevant to social work, and locates them in the context...

This textbook provides a critical assessment of developments in health and healthcare policy within the UK and Europe. Each chapter integrates conceptual themes drawn from the fields of sociology and political science to offer a unique combination of theory, historical detail and wider social commentary.The book is divided into four sections:- Section One establishes a theoretical basis for the analysis of contemporary health policy.- Section Two examines the key co...

In view of the approaching age of austerity for the public sector, leadership is likely to continue to become a key theme. This edited volume brings together a host of material from the public sector to analyze the issue internationally.Teelken, Dent & Ferlie lead a team of contributors in examining three key aspects of this increasingly important theme:the meaning of public sector leadership, and how this changes in different contextsthe implicati...

This open access book bridges the divide between political science and public health, whilst simultaneously embracing the complexities and differences of both. Although public health is inherently political, the tools and insights of political science are often ignored in public health scholarship. Bringing together academics and researchers working at the intersection of both, the book demonstrates how integrating these fields can help reconcile the roles of politics and scientific eviden...

All Social Work students are required to undertake specific learning and assessment in partnership working and information sharing across professional disciplines and agencies. Increasingly, social workers are also finding that they need to deal with a wide range of other professions as part of their daily work. It is essential therefore that social workers can work effectively and collaboratively with these professions while retaining their own values and identity. This updated second edi...

Health service policy and health policy have changed considerably over the past fifteen years and there is a pressing need for an up-to-date sociological analysis of health policy. Not only have policies themselves changed but new policy themes – such as evidence-based policy and practice, an increasing focus on a primary care led health service, a growing recognition of the need to address inequalities through public health policies and a focus on the views and the voice of the user and t...