Combining analytical introductory chapters, edited versions of influential articles from the journal Critical Public Health and specially commissioned review articles, this volume examines the contemporary roles of ‘critical voices’ in public health research and practice from a range of disciplines and contexts.

Health Education: Critical perspectives provides a socio-cultural and critical approach to health education. The book draws together international experts in the fields of health and education who deconstruct contemporary discourses and practices, and re-imagine a health education that both connects with young people and offers a way forward in addressing issues of health and wellbeing. Chapters within specifically link academic work on neoliberalism, healthism, risk and the body to wider discourses of health and health education. They challenge current practices and call for a re-thinking of current health programs in education settings. A unique feature of this book is the analyses of health education from both political and applied levels across a range of international contexts. The book is divided into three sections: the social and political contexts informing health education how individual health issues (sexuality, alcohol, mental health, the body and obesity, nutrition) articulate in education in complex ways alternative ways to think about health and health education pedagogy. The overall theme of the book offers a perspective that the current approach to health education – promoting a fear of ill health, self-surveillance and individual responsibility – can become a form of health fascism, and we need to be cognisant of this potential and its consequences for young people. The book will be of key interest to academics and researchers exploring the political context of health education.

A unique and innovative collection, Critical Perspectives in Public Health Feminisms gives space to chronically underrepresented voices in public health through engaging with Public Health Feminisms (PHF). PHF describes a technique of analysis that attends gender and intersections of race, class, sexuality, age, and ability in public health. Including the perspectives of Black, Indigenous, women of colour, refugee, immigrant, (dis)abled, neurodivergent, two-spirit, non-binary, trans and/or gender diverse scholars, this text aims to fill a gap in public health scholarship and practice. Through a social justice approach, it critically addresses how public health services, policies, and programming are unable to protect and promote the health of all Canadians due to their lack of representation and inclusivity from inception to execution. This accessible and thought-provoking volume is essential for upper-year undergraduate and graduate students across all areas in public health and gender and health studies. It provides analytical, theoretical, and methodological tools to inform work in public health services, policies, and programming through a PHF lens.

This new edition of Staying Alive provides readers with a fresh perspective on health, health care, and illness in Canada and abroad. Grounded in a human rights approach to health, this edited collection includes chapters on the social construction of illness and disability, social determinants of health, and current critical issues in the field. The third edition has been thoroughly updated and includes recent national and international developments in health care, with current world statistics and an emphasis on austerity-related changes and their effects on health and health care systems. It includes chapters on pharmaceutical policy, social class, women’s health, and the impact of economic forces such as globalization and privatization in health care.

Health communication is key to promoting good population and individual health outcomes. As the field has developed, there is a growing need for a critical appraisal of the ideologies and theories underpinning health communication in order to ensure effective practice. This book clearly situates health communication within its social context. It provides a critical overview of three key disciplinary areas – education, psychology and communication. Drawing on international examples throughout, the book challenges the underlying assumptions that drive the design and delivery of health promotion interventions. The authors argue that health communication is inherently political and pay close attention to issues of power, ethics and inequality throughout the text. This book will be valuable for those students at all levels who require a critical perspective, as well as practitioners in health communication and health promotion. With reference to detailed examples and annotated suggestions for further reading, the book is an accessible resource for analysing contemporary health communication.

“The authors bring a passion for social justice, equity, and inclusivity to the dialogue about changing the unjust systems that create disparate population health outcomes.” ©Doody’s Review Service, 2022, Suzan C Ulrich, Dr.PH, MSN, MN, RN, CNM, FACNM (Resurrection University) Leading Systems Change in Public Health: A Field Guide for Practitioners is the first resource written by public health professionals for public health professionals on how to improve public health by utilizing a systems change lens. Edited by leaders from the de Beaumont Foundation and the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health with chapters written by a diverse array of public health leaders, the book provides an evidence-based framework with practical strategies, processes, and tools for enacting meaningful change. Complete with engaging stories and tips to illustrate concepts in action, this book is the essential guide for current and future public health leaders working within and across individual, interpersonal, organizational, cross-sector, and community levels. The book addresses subjects such as change leadership, health equity, racial justice, power sharing, and readiness for change. It addresses best practices for enacting change at different levels, including at the personal, interpersonal, organizational, and team or cross-sector level, while describing the factors, the processes, skills, and tools required for leading complex change. It not only covers the process of leading systems change but also the importance of community organizing and coalition building, identifying a shared understanding of the problem, how to leverage the lessons of implementation science, and how to understand the relationship between sustainability and public health. Practical examples and stories highlight challenges and opportunities, systems change in action, and the importance of crisis leadership – including lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. Key Features: Enables practitioners to improve public health by utilizing a systems change approach Applies systems change strategies to help discover solutions for improved community health equity and racial justice Integrates practical public health examples and stories from innovative leaders in the field Includes tools for how to implement internal processes that generate creative and effective system change leadership

How might we best manage those who have offended but have mental vulnerabilities? How are risks identified, managed and minimised? What are ideological differences of care and control, punishment and therapy negotiated in practice? These questions are just some which are debated in the eleven chapters of this book. Each with their focus on a given area, authors raise the challenges, controversies, dilemmas and concerns attached to this particular context of delivering justice. Taking insights on imprisonment, community punishments and forensic services, this book provides a broad analysis of environments. But it also casts a critical light on how punishment of the mentally vulnerable sits within public attitudes and ideas, policy discourses, and the ways in which those seen to present as risky and dangerous are imagined. Written in a clear and direct style, this book serves as a valuable resource for those studying, working or researching at the intersections of healthcare and criminal justice domains. This book is essential reading for students and practitioners within the fields of criminology and criminal justice, social work, forensic psychology, forensic psychiatry, mental health nursing and probation.