Evidence Based Public Health

The practice of public health would be easier if all the decisions could just be based on science. The reality, of course, is that many choices have to account for short-term demands, meaning that some policies and programs are rooted in anecdotal evidence or limited resources. In these circumstances, an evidence-based approach, emphasizing available data and analytics while leveraging individual skills and an optimized organizational climate, is a public health practitioner's best tool for effective decision making. This fully revised and updated 3rd edition of Evidence-Based Public Health offers an essential primer on how to choose, carry out, and evaluate evidence-based programs and policies in public health settings. It addresses not only how to locate and utilize scientific evidence, but also how to implement and evaluate interventions in a way that generates new evidence.