Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 

About: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health is an academic journal published by BMJ. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & Public health. It has an ISSN identifier of 0143-005X. Over the lifetime, 9205 publications have been published receiving 439533 citations. The journal is also known as: Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health & JECH.

The feasibility of creating a checklist for the assessment of the methodological quality both of randomised and non-randomised studies of health care interventions.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To test the feasibility of creating a valid and reliable checklist with the following features: appropriate for assessing both randomised and non-randomised studies; provision of both an overall score for study quality and a profile of scores not only for the quality of reporting, internal validity (bias and confounding) and power, but also for external validity. DESIGN: A pilot version was first developed, based on epidemiological principles, reviews, and existing checklists for randomised studies. Face and content validity were assessed by three experienced reviewers and reliability was determined using two raters assessing 10 randomised and 10 non-randomised studies. Using different raters, the checklist was revised and tested for internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson 20), test-retest and inter-rater reliability (Spearman correlation coefficient and sign rank test; kappa statistics), criterion validity, and respondent burden. MAIN RESULTS: The performance of the checklist improved considerably after revision of a pilot version. The Quality Index had high internal consistency (KR-20: 0.89) as did the subscales apart from external validity (KR-20: 0.54). Test-retest (r 0.88) and inter-rater (r 0.75) reliability of the Quality Index were good. Reliability of the subscales varied from good (bias) to poor (external validity). The Quality Index correlated highly with an existing, established instrument for assessing randomised studies (r 0.90). There was little difference between its performance with non-randomised and with randomised studies. Raters took about 20 minutes to assess each paper (range 10 to 45 minutes). CONCLUSIONS: This study has shown that it is feasible to develop a checklist that can be used to assess the methodological quality not only of randomised controlled trials but also non-randomised studies. It has also shown that it is possible to produce a checklist that provides a profile of the paper, alerting reviewers to its particular methodological strengths and weaknesses. Further work is required to improve the checklist and the training of raters in the assessment of external validity.

Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes

Abstract: Public health in the Victorian era had two major concerns: housing conditions and sanitation. These two elements were seen as crucial in improving the health status of the population. This Victorian notion of public health was, therefore, centred upon the prevention rather than cure ofdisease. The early years ofthis century saw a narrowing of this Victorian vision with an increased emphasis on personal hygiene and individual action in the prevention of disease. Thus there was a shift in the focus of disease prevention from society as a whole to its individual members. This influenced the role of public health doctors whose administrative responsibilities were increasing as they assumed responsibility for municipal hospitals. These administrative and preventive roles brought public health doctors into conflict with family doctors about the scope and objectives of public health. The establishment of the National Health Service, which left public health doctors in charge ofa range of community services, only served to heighten the conflicts within the medical profession about the role of public health within a socialised medical system. The emergence of the social work profession created a further area of conflict. Although the 1974 reorganisation of the NHS created the specialty of community medicine, thereby providing public health doctors with a career structure similar to that of other specialties within medicine, the role of the new specialty was emasculated. The fledgling specialty was given the responsibility for planning and coordinating health care delivery within local areas. However, few resources were provided and little opportunity has arisen for the new community physicians to implement their plans. The provision of a medicalised career structure has done little to overcome the negative image of community medicine within the rest of the medical profession. This book presents an historical view of the development of one branch of the medical profession. Using archival material supplemented by interviews with community physicians, Jane Lewis shows how 'public health' and 'preventive medicine' have been supplanted as the central concern of medicine by curative and acute specialties. The much vaunted current policies of prevention and community care have not served to rescue community medicine from languishing in obscurity. This book provides an interesting account of the development of the medical 355

Participatory action research

Abstract: This glossary aims to clarify some of the key concepts associated with participatory action research.

Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes, 3rd ed

Abstract: M E Drummond, M J Sculpher, G W Torrance GW, et al. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19-852945-7 A sketchy outline to the main economic theories forms the introduction to this book. The authors skillfully invoke those theories in the end only to point out that the economic evaluation primarily serves as a pragmatic aid to decision making. The “blue book” systematises and summarises recent knowledge on the main types of economic evaluations, thereby providing a useful overview including sources of further readings. Economic evaluation is defined as a comparative analysis of alternative courses of action in terms of both their costs and consequences. The authors make clear that the subject matter of economics is the deployment of real resources whether they cost money or …

Indicators of socioeconomic position (part 1)

Abstract: This glossary presents a comprehensive list of indicators of socioeconomic position used in health research. A description of what they intend to measure is given together with how data are elicited and the advantages and limitation of the indicators. The glossary is divided into two parts for journal publication but the intention is that it should be used as one piece. The second part highlights a life course approach and will be published in the next issue of the journal.