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

Barnett, Tony ORCID: 0000-0001-9399-9607, 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, 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
Divisions:	Social Policy LSE Health
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Date Deposited:	02 Feb 2015 09:19
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 00:50
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/60814

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