Page 441 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

408 n POPUlATION HeAlTH

these authors concluded that population
PoPulation health health is concerned with both the defini-
P tion and measurement of health outcomes
and the roles of determinants. Kindig and
The term population health is fairly new. Stoddart (2003) defined population health
Although the current emphasis on improving as the health outcomes of a group, includ-
health outcomes, eliminating health dispari- ing the distribution of the outcomes within
ties, and reducing health care costs ampli- the group, and argued that the field of pop-
fies the importance of population health, a ulation health included health outcomes,
single accepted definition has yet to emerge. patterns of determinants of health and
Furthermore, the debate about whether interventions, and policies that link out-
population health refers to a “concept of comes with determinants. In 1998, Young
health” or “the study of determinants of published a book titled Population Health
health” is unresolved (Hartley, 2004; Kindig, Concepts and Methods. Now in its second
2007; Kindig & Stoddart, 2003; Mechanic, edition, this textbook provides a compre-
2007; Raphael & Bryant, 2002). Nevertheless, hensive overview of factors that influence
the origin of the concept of population health health along with the identification of basic
can be traced back to a historic eighteenth- methods for assessing population health.
century debate over the relationship between Young (2004) defined population health as a
economic growth and human health (Szreter, “conceptual framework for thinking about
2003). expectedly, across the years, the health why some people are healthier than oth-
of populations has been inextrinsically ers and the policy development, research
linked to concepts of both epidemiology and agenda, and resource allocation that flow
economics. from this” (p. 4). Young (2004) lays out a tra-
In an article titled “Producing Health, jectory for population health studies based
Consuming Health Care,” evans and on description, explanation, prediction, and
Stoddart (1990) merged concepts and prin- control. Specifically, Young (2004) supports
ciples from economics and epidemiology that the state of the health of a population
to support that health is determined by should be first described to identify prev-
multiple factors. In a book titled Purchasing alent health problems. Once problems are
Population Health: Paying for Results, Kindig identified, explanations should be sought in
(1997) defined population health as “the relation to “why the state of health is what it
aggregate health outcome of health adjusted is” and “why certain problems occur” (p. 6).
life expectancy (quantity and quality) of Then, according to Young, results of studies
a group of individuals, in an economic of disease patterns and their determinants
framework that balances the relative mar- should be used to predict health effects and
ginal returns from multiple determinants strategies for risk avoidance. In the end,
of health” (p. 47). Kindig’s definition pro- knowledge from these population health
posed a unit of measure for population studies can be translated into health policy
health and underscored a relationship to prevent disease and promote health.
between economics and health. In an arti- In the study of determinants of pop-
cle titled “What Is Population Health?” ulation health, population is defined
Kindig and Stoddart (2003) attempted to demographically, politically, and/or geo-
distinguish population health from public graphically. Health is most often defined
health, health promotion, and social epi- as “a state of complete physical, mental and
demiology. Following a critique of existing social well-being and not merely the absence
definitions and understandings of popula- of disease or infirmity” (World Health
tion health dating back to the early 1990s, Organization, 1948, p. 100), and determinants