Representing Health

Representing Health addresses the importance of the media in shaping and reflecting public perceptions and attitudes to health and illness. Bringing together contributions from a variety of academic disciplines, this lively text examines contemporary theoretical debates and analyzes media as diverse as television, cinema, literature, print media and the Internet. Centring around themes of 'virtual' bodies, audiences, representations and public health, it examines discourses of sexuality, gender, race, disability, childhood, medico-moral panics, regulation and governmentality.

Traditional and social media are used extensively in terms of public health today. Studies show that social media works much better than other follow-up systems, leading it to become a modern and somewhat new tool for disease coverage and information discovery. The current state of the representation of health and medicine in the media is an important factor to analyze in the field of health communication, especially amidst the onset of a global pandemic. The ways in which the media discusses health, the campaigns that are used, and the ethics around this role of media and journalism are defining factors in the spread of information regarding health. The Handbook of Research on Representing Health and Medicine in Modern Media is a crucial reference that discusses health communication within two contexts: in terms of the media and journalists presenting critical health information and in terms of media literacy and information retrieval methods of media consumers through modern digital channels. The main purpose of these chapters is the development of critical thinking about health presentations and health communication issues in the media by presenting a discussion of the issues that will contribute to this vital view of health, medicine, and diseases in the media. The primary topics highlighted in this book are infectious diseases in the media, campaigning, media ethics, digital platforms such as television and social media in health communication, and the media’s impact on individuals and society. This book is ideal for journalists, reporters, researchers, practitioners, public health officials, social media analysts, researchers, academicians, and students looking for information on how health and medicine are presented in the media, the channels used for information delivery, and the impact of the media on health and medicine.

In times of rapid change and constrained resources, measures that are important, focused, and reliable are vital. However there is an overabundance of measures available for evaluating various aspects of population health and previous efforts to simplify existing sets to meet the needs of all decision makers have been unsuccessful. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop to explore the status and uses of measures and measurement in the work of improving population health. Participants explored existing and emerging population health metric sets and characteristics of metrics necessary for stakeholder action across multiple sectors. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

Representing Health addresses the importance of the media in shaping and reflecting public perceptions and attitudes to health and illness. Bringing together contributions from a variety of academic disciplines, this lively text examines contemporary theoretical debates and analyzes media as diverse as television, cinema, literature, print media and the Internet. Centring around themes of 'virtual' bodies, audiences, representations and public health, it examines discourses of sexuality, gender, race, disability, childhood, medico-moral panics, regulation and governmentality.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama in March 2010 is a landmark in U.S. social legislation, and the Supreme Court's recent decision upholding the Act has ensured that it will remain the law of the land. The new law extends health insurance to nearly all Americans, fulfilling a century-long quest and bringing the United States to parity with other industrial nations. Affordable Care aims to control rapidly rising health care costs and promises to make the United States more equal, reversing four decades of rising disparities between the very rich and everyone else. Millions of people of modest means will gain new benefits and protections from insurance company abuses - and the tab will be paid by privileged corporations and the very rich. How did such a bold reform effort pass in a polity wracked by partisan divisions and intense lobbying by special interests? What does Affordable Care mean - and what comes next? In this updated edition of Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Lawrence R. Jacobs and Theda Skocpol - two of the nation's leading experts on politics and health care policy - provide a concise and accessible overview. They explain the political battles of 2009 and 2010, highlighting White House strategies, the deals Democrats cut with interest groups, and the impact of agitation by Tea Partiers and progressives. Jacobs and Skocpol spell out what the new law can do for everyday Americans, what it will cost, and who will pay. In a new section, they also analyze the impact the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the law. Above all, they explain what comes next, as critical yet often behind-the-scenes battles rage over implementing reform nationally and in the fifty states. Affordable Care still faces challenges at the state level despite the Court ruling. But, like Social Security and Medicare, it could also gain strength and popularity as the majority of Americans learn what it can do for them.

This Revised Reprint of our 8th edition, the "gold standard" in community health nursing, Public Health Nursing: Population-Centered Health Care in the Community, has been updated with a new Quality and Safety Education in Nursing (QSEN) appendix that features examples of incorporating knowledge, skills, and attitudes to improve quality and safety in community/public health nursing practice. As with the previous version, this text provides comprehensive and up-to-date content to keep you at the forefront of the ever-changing community health climate and prepare you for an effective nursing career. In addition to concepts and interventions for individuals, families, and communities, this text also incorporates real-life applications of the public nurse's role, Healthy People 2020 initiatives, new chapters on forensics and genomics, plus timely coverage of disaster management and important client populations such as pregnant teens, the homeless, immigrants, and more. Evidence-Based Practice boxes illustrate how the latest research findings apply to public/community health nursing.Separate chapters on disease outbreak investigation and disaster management describe the nurse's role in surveilling public health and managing these types of threats to public health.Separate unit on the public/community health nurse's role describes the different functions of the public/community health nurse within the community.Levels of Prevention boxes show how community/public health nurses deliver health care interventions at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of prevention.What Do You Think?, Did You Know?, and How To? boxes use practical examples and critical thinking exercises to illustrate chapter content.The Cutting Edge highlights significant issues and new approaches to community-oriented nursing practice.Practice Application provides case studies with critical thinking questions.Separate chapters on community health initiatives thoroughly describe different approaches to promoting health among populations.Appendixes offer additional resources and key information, such as screening and assessment tools and clinical practice guidelines. NEW! Quality and Safety Education in Nursing (QSEN) appendix features examples of incorporating knowledge, skills, and attitudes to improve quality and safety in community/public health nursing practice.NEW! Linking Content to Practice boxes provide real-life applications for chapter content.NEW! Healthy People 2020 feature boxes highlight the goals and objectives for promoting health and wellness over the next decade.NEW! Forensic Nursing in the Community chapter focuses on the unique role of forensic nurses in public health and safety, interpersonal violence, mass violence, and disasters. NEW! Genomics in Public Health Nursing chapter includes a history of genetics and genomics and their impact on public/community health nursing care.

This timely study demonstrates how images of beauty and ugliness have constructed a visual history that records the artificial boundaries dividing "healthy" bodies from those that are "ill". "Gilman tells an excellent tale."—Jewish Chronicle