Thomson, H., Hoskins, R., Petticrew, M., Ogilvie, D., Craig, N., Quinn, T. and Lindsay, G. (2004) Evaluating the health effects of social interventions. British Medical Journal, 328(7434), pp. 282-285. (doi: 10.1136/bmj.328.7434.282)
Full text not currently available from Enlighten.
Publisher's URL: http://www.bmj.com/
Abstract
Rigorous evidence on the health effects of social interventions is scarce ¹ ² despite calls for more evidence from randomised studies. ³ One reason for the lack of such experimental research on social interventions may be the perception among researchers, policymakers, and others that randomised designs belong to the biomedical world and that their application to social interventions is both unethical and simplistic. ⁴ Applying experimental designs to social interventions may be problematic but is not always impossible and is a desirable alternative to uncontrolled experimentation. ³ However, even when randomised designs have been used to evaluate social interventions, opportunities to incorporate health measures have often been missed. ⁵ For example, income supplementation is thought to be a key part of reducing health inequalities, ⁶ but rigorous evidence to support this is lacking because most randomised controlled trials of income supplementation have not included health measures. ⁵ Current moves to increase uptake of benefits offer new opportunities to establish the effects of income supplements on health. In attempting to design such a study, however, we found that randomised or other controlled trials were difficult to justify ethically, and our eventual design was rejected by funders.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Lindsay, Dr Grace and Hoskins, Mr Robert and Ogilvie, David and Thomson, Dr Hilary and Petticrew, Dr Mark |
| Authors: | Thomson, H., Hoskins, R., Petticrew, M., Ogilvie, D., Craig, N., Quinn, T., and Lindsay, G. |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine |
| College/School: | College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing > Nursing and Health Care College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU |
| Journal Name: | British Medical Journal |
| Journal Abbr.: | BMJ |
| Publisher: | BMJ Publishing Group |
| ISSN: | 0959-535X |
| ISSN (Online): | 1756-1833 |
University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record
Altmetric
Altmetric