IJE Advance Access originally published online on September 19, 2007
International Journal of Epidemiology 2007 36(5):1153-1154; doi:10.1093/ije/dym183
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Book Reviews |
Methods in Social Epidemiology. J Michael Oakes and Jay S Kaufman.
E-mail: cborrell{at}aspb.es
Methods in Social Epidemiology. J Michael Oakes and Jay S Kaufman. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006, pp. 478 . ISBN 0 7879 7989-9
As the editors of the book define: ‘Social epidemiology is the branch of epidemiology that considers how social interactions and collective human activities affect health. In other words, social epidemiology is about how a society's innumerable social arrangements, past and present, yield differential exposures and thus differences in health outcomes among the persons who comprise the population’. Therefore, this book tries to focus on the methodology used in social epidemiology; methodology which is based not only on the epidemiologic methods, but also in the methodology used in social sciences.
In the Introduction section, Oakes and Kaufman point out three aspects that have to be taken into account: (i) Causal inference: in social epidemiology, causal inference requires having strong conceptual models. Although sometimes this theoretical justification is lacking in epidemiology and in social epidemiology, the researchers will have to deepen those aspects. The sophistication of statistical or other methodological techniques will never be a substitute for the theoretical foundation of research. (ii) Measurement of social phenomena: social constructs are difficult to measure probably because social epidemiology is in a primitive stage compared with other disciplines. c) Multilevel methods: this methodology permits simultaneous analysis of the effects of individual and the effects of contexts, and for this reason it has been very important for social epidemiology. However, advances have to be made in the conceptualization and methodologies to understand transitions from the micro (individual) to the macro (society) and vice-versa.
Oakes and Kaufman, with the contribution of 27 researchers of different disciplines in the area of social epidemiology, pull together 17 chapters. After the two chapters of the Background section, there are seven chapters on Measures and Measurement (socioeconomic position, race, poverty, health inequalities, segregation, residential community contexts and neighbourhood effects through census data) and finally, there is a third section on Design and Analysis that includes eight chapters (community-based participatory research, network methods, social interactions, multilevel studies, experimental social epidemiology, propensity score matching, causal diagrams and natural experiments). The majority of them review the methodologies and concepts and also include questions and caveats to advance in the future.
This is a very interesting textbook, useful for social epidemiology researchers and also for master and doctoral students as well as social epidemiology lecturers. It will be a reference book in the fields of social epidemiology.
Although it is a long book, from my point of view, some important topics are not covered and would improve the book. Two of them are: (i) Gender as another axis of inequalities in health: patterns of health and of its determinants are different for men and women1 and these differences are partly due to social factors related to inequitable gender relationships, as, e.g. labour segregation, political participation, economic autonomy, employment and earnings, etc. But the patriarchy that affects most societies is not only related to women's health, but also to men's.2 (ii) Geographic epidemiology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS): the study of spatial patterns of disease morbidity and mortality through GIS has changed in a few years. The mapping of diseases in small geographical areas through smoothing the relative risks is a powerful tool to better understand geographic patterns that has become widespread and well accepted.3
Researchers, lecturers and advanced students should have this book near them for reference in their everyday activities.
References
1 Krieger N. Genders, sexes, and health: what are the connections–and why does it matter? Int J Epidemiol (2003) 32:652–57.
2 Courtenay WH. Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men's well-being: a theory of gender and health. Soc Sci Med (2000) 50:1385–401. review.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
3 Rezaeian M, Dunn G, St Leger S, Appleby L. Geographical epidemiology, spatial analysis and geographical information systems: a multidisciplinary glossary. J Epidemiol Community Health (2007) 61:98–102.
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