Some considerations concerning the challenge of incorporating social variables into epidemiological models of infectious disease transmission

Barnett, Tony, Fournié, Guillaume, Gupta, Sunetra and Seeley, Janet (2015) Some considerations concerning the challenge of incorporating social variables into epidemiological models of infectious disease transmission. Global Public Health: an International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice, 10 (4). pp. 438-448. ISSN 1744-1692

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Abstract

Incorporation of ‘social’ variables into epidemiological models remains a challenge. Too much detail and models cease to be useful; too little and the very notion of infection —a highly social process in human populations—may be considered with little reference to the social. The French sociologist Emile Durkheim proposed that the scientific study of society required identification and study of ‘social currents.’ Such ‘currents’ are what we might today describe as ‘emergent properties,’ specifiable variables appertaining to individuals and groups, which represent the perspectives of social actors as they experience the environment in which they live their lives. Here we review the ways in which one particular emergent property, hope, relevant to a range of epidemiological situations, might be used in epidemiological modelling of infectious diseases in human populations. We also indicate how such an approach might be extended to include a range of other potential emergent properties to repres

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rgph20
Additional Information:	© 2015 The Authors
Library of Congress subject classification:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Sets:	Departments > Social Policy Research centres and groups > LSE Health
Date Deposited:	02 Feb 2015 09:19
URL:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/60814/

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