Directed Readings Ideas Needed

[hringrose]

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Hi,

I am doing a directed readings course over the summer. I can choose any health topic I wish, but I must submit three pieces of work about it. I have a number of ideas, but am having trouble narrowing it down. I would love to hear anyone else's ideas for a topic. I am thinking about the effect of culture on health. My doctor suggested a study on how to determine whether a health research paper is valid or not. I might also study environmental health.

Thanks for your help.

 

[PublicHealth]

Your idea to explore the effect of culture on health sounds like social epidemiology. I highly recommend checking out "Social Epidemiology," edited by Lisa Berkman and Ichiro Kawachi (2000). A PubMed search for "Berkman L" and "Kawachi I" should yield social epidemiologic literature published in the past three years. See also Stan Kasl's work.

A hot topic in environmental health is lead exposure in children. I did a paper on neurobehavioral consequences of lead exposure in children, and found a TON of information. Several articles have recently been published in big name journals like the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA. If you choose to cover this topic, be sure to emphasize the distinction between primary and secondary/tertiary prevention and why a shift to primary prevention is needed.

Hope this helps!

PH