This accessible, evidence-based book explores how important it is for midwives to understand the psychological aspects of care, in order to create positive experiences for mothers and families.

This important book makes a significant contribution to the emergent body of public health knowledge by examining debates around the social context of health, including key socio-economic, environmental and cultural factors.

Throughout this book, the authors analyse and reflect upon the influence of history, research and procedures upon contemporary public health practice. The text explores the debates surrounding the meaning of public health and looks at the policy changes that are reshaping its context.

Offers an exploration of the history of public health and the development of health services over the centuries. This book surveys the rise and redefinition of public health since the sanitary revolution of the mid-nineteenth century, assessing the reforms in the post World War II years and the coming of welfare states.

Explores and explains the theoretical underpinnings and applied nature of the field of public health nutrition. This book: presents a conceptual framework, explores groups for whom nutrition is especially relevant, examines issues including vulnerable populations, and, covers professional skills for public health practitioners.

This book addresses the gap of areas of the central role the purchasing function plays in many health system reforms and provides an up-to-date analysis of the evidence on different approaches to purchasing and support for policy-makers and practitioners as they formulate purchasing strategies.

Drawing on theories from the sociology of technology and on a diverse body of empirical research, this book explores how universities are attempting to build and use Information and communication technologies (ICTs), to sit alongside, complement and, in some cases, replace established means of delivering, organizing and managing higher education.

This book is a comprehensive guide to selecting approaches and carrying out qualitative research. Rather than being prescriptive, it provides information on various data collection procedures and how to make decisions about specific qualitative approaches.