How Complex Systems Science Can Revolutionize Population Health Theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 73-88
Author(s):  
Patricia Goodson
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Complex Health Problems ◽  
Complex Systems Science ◽  
Health Theory ◽  
And Training

This chapter discusses whether and how complex systems science (CSS) can revolutionize population health theory. First, the chapter defines theory and the practice of theory-building (or theorizing); second, it outlines some of the difficulties found in current population health theorizing; lastly, it characterizes the mechanisms through which CSS can influence, change, and revolutionize current theorizing efforts. The chapter also describes two examples of scholars who used CSS to challenge currently held assumptions and reframe complex health problems. Lastly, the author addresses the implications—of adopting a CSS approach to theorizing—for practice, policy development, and training of the future public health workforce.

Bridging the Divide

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
Yorghos Apostolopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Health Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Shared Understanding ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
The One ◽  
Complex Systems Science

This chapter contextualizes the volume and describes its organization. It begins by delving into the limitations of the prevailing reductionist paradigm in population health science and the need for a transition from a typically risk factor–based science to a science that recognizes the whole and relationships among parts of pressing population health problems. Next, it walks readers through distinctions between public and population health on the one hand and key concepts of complexity on the other, while offering a shared understanding of population health science and complex systems science. The chapter also lays out the design of and potential audiences for this book.

Harnessing Complex Systems

2020 ◽  
pp. 283-298
Author(s):  
Yorghos Apostolopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Health Science ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Dynamic Complexity ◽  
Complex Problems ◽  
Complex Systems Science ◽  
Fundamental Shift

Many population health challenges have eluded scientists and policymakers for years because of misunderstanding of dynamic complexity. This chapter advocates an epistemological overhaul in population health science based on the premise that population health problems should be studied as complex systems because they operate as such. The proposed overhaul is predicated on the development of a new complex-systems-science–driven paradigm for a new population health science. It is founded on a fundamental shift in scientific thinking: from a quest for causes and accurate predictions to “control” problems, which inappropriate science and sheer uncontrollability of complex problems have curtailed, to knowledge generation, based on complex-systems-science–grounded theories and analytical methods to better understand, anticipate, curb, and manage health challenges, by way of harnessing their complexity. As both current and proposed epistemologies represent models of simpler and complex problems, respectively, appropriate use of each under the proposed paradigm can only strengthen population health science. These emerging ideas delve into the known as well as the possible and still unknown. Some ideas are grounded in long-standing scientific evidence, while others are of an emerging nature. Some are testable while others are partially tested, and still others remain untested “fantasies” about how to contend with intractable population health challenges.

scholarly journals The emergence of consensus: a primer

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 172189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Baronchelli
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Social Consensus ◽  
Population Scale ◽  
Complex Systems Science

The origin of population-scale coordination has puzzled philosophers and scientists for centuries. Recently, game theory, evolutionary approaches and complex systems science have provided quantitative insights on the mechanisms of social consensus. However, the literature is vast and widely scattered across fields, making it hard for the single researcher to navigate it. This short review aims to provide a compact overview of the main dimensions over which the debate has unfolded and to discuss some representative examples. It focuses on those situations in which consensus emerges ‘spontaneously’ in the absence of centralized institutions and covers topics that include the macroscopic consequences of the different microscopic rules of behavioural contagion, the role of social networks and the mechanisms that prevent the formation of a consensus or alter it after it has emerged. Special attention is devoted to the recent wave of experiments on the emergence of consensus in social systems.

Complex Systems Science

2021 ◽  
pp. 243-256
Author(s):  
Matt Kasman ◽  
Nancy Breen ◽  
Ross A. Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Complex Systems Science

scholarly journals Integrating complex systems science into road safety research and practice, part 1: review of formative concepts

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-183
Author(s):  
Rebecca B Naumann ◽  
Jill Kuhlberg ◽  
Laura Sandt ◽  
Stephen Heiny ◽  
Yorghos Apostolopoulos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Injury Prevention ◽  
Road Safety ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Safety Research ◽  
Complex Systems Science ◽  
Over Time

Many of our most persistent public health problems are complex problems. They arise from a web of factors that interact and change over time and may exhibit resistance to intervention efforts. The domain of systems science provides several tools to help injury prevention researchers and practitioners examine deep, complex and persistent problems and identify opportunities to intervene. Using the increase in pedestrian death rates as an example, we provide (1) an accessible overview of how complex systems science approaches can augment established injury prevention frameworks and (2) a straightforward example of how specific systems science tools can deepen understanding, with a goal of ultimately informing action.

scholarly journals Imaging as a Complex Systems Science

Radiology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 249 (3) ◽  
pp. 1083-1083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selda Tez ◽  
Mesut Tez
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Complex Systems Science
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