Social Medicine, Peking University Edition

Author: Zhang Tuohong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-19
Features: Social Medicine is an interdisciplinary field that emerged in the mid-19th century. China began researching and teaching this discipline in the 1950s of the 20th century. However, in just 20 years, social medicine has become a compulsory course for public health majors in medical schools, and more than 20 editions of social medicine textbooks have been published nationwide. Yet, textbooks for long-term students and master's degree candidates remain relatively scarce. Our book is primarily aimed at this readership. The book has the following features: First, it avoids merely presenting "what is" without explaining "why," addressing the issue of transmitting knowledge without resolving thinking problems. Second, it integrates theories from social sciences and the latest research findings to strive for a thorough and in-depth presentation of the content. Third, it introduces sociological theories related to health issues facing China. Fourth, it covers new developments in social medicine research, such as health research, health evaluation, social factors influencing health, and social policies for health issues, while also presenting representative and authoritative examples from abroad. Fifth, it frequently cites domestic research findings, even interdisciplinary ones. The book is divided into nine chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction to social medicine, covering its basic concepts and theories, the development of the discipline, and its relationship with related fields. Chapter 2 introduces the medical model, laying a philosophical foundation for the development of social medicine knowledge and theories. Starting from Chapter 3, the book teaches the three traditional research contents of social medicine. Chapter 3 introduces social factors influencing health, such as socioeconomic status, culture, stress, family, and lifestyle. Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7 respectively introduce basic research methods in social medicine, the concepts and indicators of health evaluation, quality of life evaluation, and health risk factor evaluation. Chapters 8 and 9 elaborate on community health services and public health strategies.