"Health
Education Epidemiology": An interdisciplinary
science that comes into being through the integration
of epidemiology and health education
Mohsen
Rezaeian
Correspondence:
Professor Mohsen Rezaeian
PhD, Epidemiologist
Social Medicine Department
Occupational Environmental Research Center
Rafsanjan Medical School
Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences
Rafsanjan-Iran
Tel:03915234003
Fax:03915225209
Email: moeygmr2@yahoo.co.uk
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Abstract
By
integrating epidemiological techniques
with health education techniques, we could
witness the birth of a new interdisciplinary
branch of science that we could call "Health
Education Epidemiology". This new
branch of science will greatly assist
in the promotion of health of all human
societies. This article aims at initiating
such integration.
Key words:
Epidemiology, Health Education, Integration
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Epidemiology, as the science of studying the
patterns and the causes of health-related phenomena
in human societies could provide evidence on
how the health of a society can be shaped by
diverse factors. Over time epidemiologists have
established various study methods e.g. cross-sectional,
case-control, cohort, clinical trial, etc. in
order to study diverse public health issues.
As a result of applying these designs they have
produced a lot of jargon. To name a few, we
can refer to risk, rate, point prevalence, period
prevalence, sensitivity, specificity, cumulative
incidence, incidence density rate, odds ratio,
relative risk, confounder, bias, potential effects
of exposure, etc.
By using all these methods and related jargon
epidemiologists are able to quantify the relation
between exposure and outcome, or even to highlight
if we are able to reduce the current exposure
to a defined level, what would be the potential
impact of this reduction either in the exposed
group or the whole population.
Nevertheless, these methods and their related
terminology are only useful for epidemiologists
and other public health specialists who are
familiar with them. When it comes to the public
and when communicating the results of an epidemiological
study to the lay people we should translate
this jargon into ordinary language which they
would be better able to relate to.
How we could translate methods and jargon
into a comprehensible language
For conducting this critical and highly important
step, there are other scientists who could assist
epidemiologists. These are health educators
(or public health officials) whose job is to
help people change their attitude and behaviors
to restore their full health. Public health
officials could also base their initiatives
on epidemiological data. These scientists translate
the results of new findings, including epidemiological
findings, into a language which is comprehended
by the lay people, as well as, hopefully, a
system of public health based on those findings.
Further, epidemiology allows for the assessment
of health education and public health initiatives.
Scientists or public health officials disseminate
this new knowledge through appropriate media,
including mass media, in order to reach the
highest coverage as possible. They apply various
communication techniques to pass on the knowledge
in a way that influences the attitude of people.
By influencing the attitudes of the people it
is possible that they adopt a new behavior which
improves their health.
Sometimes the health-related problem is too
crucial or its consequences might be too immense.
Besides it might be possible that people become
accustomed to it and as a result it would be
very difficult to change the situation. Therefore,
we need to mobilize the community by the means
of social campaigns.
An outstanding example might be the act of self-immolation
or self-burning especially in developing countries.
Under such circumstances the health educationists
could help to organize social campaigns in order
to prevent this destructive behavior. They could
also help to initiate media advocacy which is
fundamental in such public health campaigns.
A reciprocal relation
However, it should be noted that the relation
between epidemiologists and health educators
is not a one-way relationship. On the contrary,
epidemiologists would also be able to help health
educators to measure how successful their translations
and/or social campaigns would be and have been.
Choosing a suitable study design, selecting
an appropriate number of samples, recruiting
those samples in a scientific and proper way,
designing an appropriate method for measuring
the impact of education and/or campaigns, carrying
out the appropriate statistical analyses, etc.
are to name just a few of skills that epidemiologists
could provide for the health educators.
Epidemiological studies
can provide evidence on
how the health of human
communities is shaped
by the role of diverse
factors. However, the
science is full of methods
and related jargon which
make it very difficult
to communicate new results
to lay people.
Health education is a
discipline that would
translate any findings
including epidemiological
ones into a language which
is comprehended by lay
people. The diverse methods
applied by health educators
could help to disseminate
new knowledge into appropriate
audiences. This makes
it possible that eventually
a new healthy behavior
will emerge.
However, to assess the
success of such translations
and interventions we still
do need epidemiological
techniques. The integration
between these two disciplines
is inevitable and could
give birth to a new interdisciplinary
branch of science that
we could name as "Health
Education Epidemiology".
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