Main description:

This text prepares students in public health, urban studies, sociology, nursing, medicine, and other areas to investigate causes and solutions to complex urban health problems such as asthma, diabetes, obesity, depression, substance abuse, violence and others. The authors demonstrate interdisciplinary ways to study the causes and consequences of these critical urban health problems, with step-by-step guidance to combining methods. Addresses the intersection of two main themes: the growing urbanization of the world's population and the increased importance of interdisciplinary approaches to public health practice and research.

Contents:

Preface. Preface. The Contributors. PART ONE: INTRODUCTION. One: Frameworks for Interdisciplinary Urban Health Research and Practice (Nicholas Freudenberg, Susan Klitzman, and Susan Saegert). Introduction. The Implications of Urban Life for Health. Levels and Types of Interdisciplinarity. Conundrums in Interdisciplinarity. Interdisciplinarity and Theories of Knowledge. Methodological Challenges and Approaches to Interdisciplinarity. Interdisciplinarity: Which Disciplines When?. Role Definitions in Interdisciplinary Research and Practice. Multiple Levels of Intervention. Summary. Two: Environmental Justice Praxis: Implications for Interdisciplinary Urban Public Health (Tom Angotti, and Julie Sze). Environmental Justice and Public Health. The Built Environment, Urban Planning, and Urban Public Health. Environmental and Social Justice, Interdisciplinarity, and the Politics of Knowledge. Asthma and the Environmental Justice Campaign for a Solid Waste Plan in New York City. Asian Immigrant and Refugee Organizing for Environmental Health and Housing in the Bay Area. Conclusion. Summary. PART TWO: INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO STUDYING CAUSES OF URBAN HEALTH PROBLEMS. Three: Interdisciplinary, Participatory Research on Urban Retail Food Environments and Dietary Behaviors (Shannon N. Zenk, Amy J. Schulz, Angela M. Odoms-Young, and Murlisa Lockett). Introduction. Determinants of Retail Food Environments in Cities. Using CBPR to Understand Health Implications of Detroit's Food Environment. Directions for Future Research. Summary. Four: An Ecological Model of Urban Child Health (Kim T. Ferguson, Pilyoung Kim, James R. Dunn, and Gary W. Evans). Introduction. An Ecological Model. Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Model. Influences on Children's Health in the Urban Context. Research Across Multiple Levels. Agenda for Future Research and Practice. Toward a Holistic Understanding of Urban Child Health. Summary. Five: Geographic Information Systems, Environmental Justice, and Health Disparities (Juliana Maantay, Andrew R. Maroko, Carlos Alicea, and A. H. Strelnick). Introduction. Community-Based Participatory Research. Multilevel Models of Causation. Role of Geographic Information Systems. Environmental Justice and Health in the Bronx. Methods. Findings. Implications of Findings. Lessons on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Urban Health Research. Conclusion. Summary. Six: Racial Inequality in Health and Policy-Induced Breakdown of African American Communities (Arline T. Geronimus, and J. Phillip Thompson). Introduction. Racialized Ideologies: Developmentalism, Economism, and the American Creed. Implications for Public Policy. Building a Movement for Policy Reform. Summary. Seven: An Interdisciplinary and Social-Ecological Analysis of the U.S. Foreclosure Crisis as it Relates to Health (Susan Saegert, Kimberly Libman, Desiree Fields). Housing and Health: What's the Connection?. The Social Ecology of Foreclosure. The Research and Its Context. Focus Group Analysis and the Emergence of Health as an Issue. Foreclosure and Public Health. Neoliberalism, the Foreclosure Crisis, and Health Consequences. Summary. PART THREE: INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO INTERVENTIONS TO PROMOTE URBAN HEALTH. Eight: Transdisciplinary Action Research on Teen Smoking Prevention. Juliana Fuqua, Daniel Stokols, Richard Harvey, Atusa Baghery, and Larry Jamner). Introduction. Review of Transdisciplinary Action Research. Transdisciplinary Action Research Cycle. Translating Transdisciplinary Research into Community Intervention and Policy. Factors Facilitating or Impeding Collaboration Among TPC Members. Implications and Lessons Learned from the TPC Study. Future Directions. Summary. Nine: How Vulnerabilities and Capacities Shape Population Health after Disasters (Craig Hadley, Sasha Rudenstine, and Sandro Galea). Social and Economic Determinants of Health After Disasters. Humanitarian Crises in Angola and the Balkans. Hurricane Katrina. September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks on New York City. Implications for Prevention and Intervention. Summary. Ten: Immigrants and Urban Aging: Toward a Policy Framework (Marianne Fahs, Anahi Viladrich, and Nina S. Parikh). The New Urban Demography: Baby Boomers and Immigrants. Economic and Social Influences on Aging and Health Policy. Social and Environmental Considerations. Toward a Conceptual Framework. A Public Health Research and Policy Agenda. Summary. Eleven: Reversing the Tide of Type 2 Diabetes Among African Americans Through Interdisciplinary Research (Hollie Jones, and Leandris C. Liburd). A Dialogue Between Two Disciplines: Psychology and Medical Anthropology. Ethnic Identity and the Experience of Being African American with Type 2 Diabetes. Interdisciplinary Research Methods. Integrating Social Psychology and Medical Anthropology to Reduce the Burden of Diabetes. Summary. PART FOUR: PUTTING INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES INTO PRACTICE. Twelve: Using Interdisciplinary Approaches To Strengthen Urban Health Research And Practice (Nicholas Freudenberg, Susan Klitzman, and Susan Saegert). Doing Interdisciplinary Research and Practice. Defining the Problem. Creating a Process for Interdisciplinary Work. Choosing Institutional and Community Partners. Influencing Policy and Practice. Evaluating Impact. Wanted: Interdisciplinary Researchers and Practitioners. Summary. Glossary. Index.