Week 14

Idea: The traditional subjects of epidemiology become agents when: a. they draw attention of trained epidemiologists to fine scale patterns of disease in that community and otherwise contribute to initiation and completion of studies; b. their resilience and reorganization of their lives and communities in response to social changes displaces or complements researchers' traditional emphasis on exposures impinging on subjects; and c. when their responses to health risks displays rationalities not taken into account by epidemiologists, health educators, and policy makers.

Cases: Popular epidemiology; AIDS activists influence AIDS science—AZT vs. AIDSVAX; Citizen surveillance of exposures; Lay epidemiology; Evidence-based policy (as a contrast)

Readings: Brown 1992, Brown 2006, Epstein 1995; Schienke 2001; Davison 1991, Lawlor 2003, Black 2001

Copyright ©2010 Peter Taylor, Ph.D.