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Causal narratives in public health: the difference between mechanisms of aetiology and mechanisms of prevention in non‐communicable diseases
Author(s) -
Kelly Michael P.,
Russo Federica
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.12621
Subject(s) - non communicable disease , public health , narrative , psychological intervention , etiology , public health interventions , alcohol consumption , disease , communicable disease , medicine , public relations , environmental health , political science , psychiatry , pathology , biology , alcohol , philosophy , linguistics , biochemistry
Research in the health sciences has been highly successful in revealing the aetiologies of many morbidities, particularly those involving the microbiology of communicable disease. This success has helped form a narrative to be found in numerous public health documents, about interventions to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases (e.g., obesity or alcohol related pathologies). These focus on tackling the purported pathogenic factors causing the diseases as a means of prevention. In this paper, we argue that this approach has been sub-optimal. The mechanisms of aetiology and of prevention are sometimes significantly different and failure to make this distinction has hindered efforts at preventing non-communicable diseases linked to diet, exercise and alcohol consumption. We propose a sociological approach as an alternative based on social practice theory. (A virtual abstract for this paper can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_979cmCmR9rLrKuD7z0ycA).