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Book New Horizons in Modeling and Simulation for Social Epidemiology and Public Health

Download or read book New Horizons in Modeling and Simulation for Social Epidemiology and Public Health written by Daniel Kim and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-01-28 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An introduction to state-of-the-art modeling and simulation approaches for social and economic determinants of population health New Horizons in Modeling and Simulation for Social Epidemiology and Public Health offers a comprehensive introduction to modeling and simulation that addresses the many complex research questions in social epidemiology and public health. This book highlights a variety of practical applications and illustrative examples with a focus on modeling and simulation approaches for the social and economic determinants of population health. The book contains classic case examples in agent-based modeling (ABM) as well as essential information on ABM applications to public health including for infectious disease modeling, obesity, and tobacco control. This book also surveys applications of microsimulation (MSM) including of tax-benefit policies to project impacts of the social determinants of health. Specifically, this book: Provides an overview of the social determinants of health and the public health significance of addressing the social determinants of health Gives a conceptual foundation for the application of ABM and MSM to study the social determinants of health Offers methodological introductions to both ABM and MSM approaches with illustrative examples Includes cutting-edge systematic reviews of empirical applications of ABM and MSM in the social sciences, social epidemiology, and public health Discusses future directions for empirical research using ABM and MSM, including integrating aspects of both ABM and MSM and implications for public health policies Written for a broad audience of policy analysts, public planners, and researchers and practitioners in public health and public policy including social epidemiologists, New Horizons in Modeling and Simulation for Social Epidemiology and Public Health offers a fundamental guide to the social determinants of health and state-of-the-art applications of ABM and MSM to studying the social and economic determinants of population health.

Book Community Health and Wellness

Download or read book Community Health and Wellness written by Jill Clendon and published by Elsevier Health Sciences. This book was released on 2022-09 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the majority of graduate nurses going on to work in primary health, Community Health and Wellness provides the reader with the knowledge and tools they need to practise competently and safely in the community. The book provides an overview of primary healthcare principles and how to apply them, enabling a deep understanding of the role of the community health nurse in providing holistic individual and community care within an interdisciplinary healthcare environment. Continuous real-world case studies throughout enable the reader to understand how the social determinants of health influence each family member's life, their communities and the challenges they face. This seventh edition has been written by nursing experts Dr Jill Clendon and Dr Ailsa Munns, and incorporates feedback from students, users and practising community health nurses to ensure it meets the needs of today's students as they embark on their career beyond academia. Takes a unique socio-ecological approach to community health - including health promotion, health literacy and a range of health interventions Key points and information boxes allow easy navigation Case studies link theory and principles to practice Templates and tools to conduct community assessments Links to resources for further reflection An eBook included in all print purchases Additional resources on Evolve: eBook on VitalSource Instructor resources: Power Points Tutorial Activities Image Library Critical Thinking Questions and Answers Student resources: Online Care Plans Online Material - Chapter 10 Research Guide: from question to solution Weblinks Significant updates throughout More content on public health and infectious disease management, including current pandemics and epidemics Improved content on cultural safety and care planning

Book Handbook on Decision Making

Download or read book Handbook on Decision Making written by Julian Andres Zapata-Cortes and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-09-26 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents different techniques and methodologies used to improve the intelligent decision-making process and increase the likelihood of success in companies of different sectors such as Financial Services, Education, Supply Chain, Energy Systems, Health Services, and others. The book contains and consolidates innovative and high-quality research contributions regarding the implementation of techniques and methodologies applied in different sectors. The scope is to disseminate current trends knowledge in the implementation of artificial intelligence techniques and methodologies in different fields such as: Logistics, Software Development, Big Data, Internet of Things, Simulation, among others. The book contents are useful for Ph.D. researchers, Ph.D. students, master and undergraduate students of different areas such as Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Analytics, and others.

Book Methods in Social Epidemiology

Download or read book Methods in Social Epidemiology written by J. Michael Oakes and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-03-20 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thorough, practical reference on the social patterns behind health outcomes Methods in Social Epidemiology provides students and professionals with a comprehensive reference for studying the social distribution and social determinants of health. Covering the theory, models, and methods used to measure and analyze these phenomena, this book serves as both an introduction to the field and a practical manual for data collection and analysis. This new second edition has been updated to reflect the field's tremendous growth in recent years, including advancements in statistical modeling and study designs. New chapters delve into genetic methods, structural cofounding, selection bias, network methods, and more, including new discussion on qualitative data collection with disadvantaged populations. Social epidemiology studies the way society's innumerable social interactions, both past and present, yields different exposures and health outcomes between individuals within populations. This book provides a thorough, detailed overview of the field, with expert guidance toward the real-world methods that fuel the latest advances. Identify, measure, and track health patterns in the population Discover how poverty, race, and socioeconomic factors become risk factors for disease Learn qualitative data collection techniques and methods of statistical analysis Examine up-to-date models, theory, and frameworks in the social epidemiology sphere As the field continues to evolve, researchers continue to identify new disease-specific risk factors and learn more about how the social system promotes and maintains well-known exposure disparities. New technology in data science and genomics allows for more rigorous investigation and analysis, while the general thinking in the field has become more targeted and attentive to causal inference and core assumptions behind effect identification. It's an exciting time to be a part of the field, and Methods in Social Epidemiology provides a solid reference for any student, researcher, or faculty in public health.

Book Multilevel Modelling for Public Health and Health Services Research

Download or read book Multilevel Modelling for Public Health and Health Services Research written by Alastair H. Leyland and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-02-28 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book is a practical introduction to multilevel modelling or multilevel analysis (MLA) – a statistical technique being increasingly used in public health and health services research. The authors begin with a compelling argument for the importance of researchers in these fields having an understanding of MLA to be able to judge not only the growing body of research that uses it, but also to recognise the limitations of research that did not use it. The volume also guides the analysis of real-life data sets by introducing and discussing the use of the multilevel modelling software MLwiN, the statistical package that is used with the example data sets. Importantly, the book also makes the training material accessible for download – not only the datasets analysed within the book, but also a freeware version of MLwiN to allow readers to work with these datasets. The book’s practical review of MLA comprises: Theoretical, conceptual, and methodological background Statistical background The modelling process and presentation of research Tutorials with example datasets Multilevel Modelling for Public Health and Health Services Research: Health in Context is a practical and timely resource for public health and health services researchers, statisticians interested in the relationships between contexts and behaviour, graduate students across these disciplines, and anyone interested in utilising multilevel modelling or multilevel analysis. “Leyland and Groenewegen’s wealth of teaching experience makes this book and its accompanying tutorials especially useful for a practical introduction to multilevel analysis.” ̶ Juan Merlo, Professor of Social Epidemiology, Lund University “Comprehensive and insightful. A must for anyone interested in the applications of multilevel modelling to population health”. ̶ S. (Subu) V. Subramanian, Professor of Population Health and Geography, Harvard University

Book Social Epidemiology

    Book Details:
  • Author : Lisa F. Berkman PhD
  • Publisher : Oxford University Press
  • Release : 2014-07-09
  • ISBN : 0199703310
  • Pages : 641 pages

Download or read book Social Epidemiology written by Lisa F. Berkman PhD and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-09 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social epidemiology is the study of how the social world influences -- and in many cases defines -- the fundamental determinants of health. This link was substantiated in the first edition of Social Epidemiology, and the generation of research that followed has fundamentally changed the way we understand epidemiology and public health. This much-awaited second edition elevates the field again, first by codifying the last decade of research, then by extending it to examine how public policies impact health. The new edition includes: · 11 fully updated chapters, including entries on the links between health and discrimination, income inequality, social networks, and emotion · Four all-new chapters on the role of policies in shaping health, including how to translate evidence into action with multi-level interventions · Updated references, detailing the best research over the last two decades The result is a bold, brilliant text that will serve the new world of epidemiology in which scientists both observe health and design interventions to improve it. Social Epidemiology again sets an intellectual agenda and provides an essential foundation for those interested in social determinants of health around the world.

Book Computational Epidemiology

Download or read book Computational Epidemiology written by Ellen Kuhl and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-09-22 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative textbook brings together modern concepts in mathematical epidemiology, computational modeling, physics-based simulation, data science, and machine learning to understand one of the most significant problems of our current time, the outbreak dynamics and outbreak control of COVID-19. It teaches the relevant tools to model and simulate nonlinear dynamic systems in view of a global pandemic that is acutely relevant to human health. If you are a student, educator, basic scientist, or medical researcher in the natural or social sciences, or someone passionate about big data and human health: This book is for you! It serves as a textbook for undergraduates and graduate students, and a monograph for researchers and scientists. It can be used in the mathematical life sciences suitable for courses in applied mathematics, biomedical engineering, biostatistics, computer science, data science, epidemiology, health sciences, machine learning, mathematical biology, numerical methods, and probabilistic programming. This book is a personal reflection on the role of data-driven modeling during the COVID-19 pandemic, motivated by the curiosity to understand it.

Book Disease Modelling and Public Health  Part A

Download or read book Disease Modelling and Public Health Part A written by and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2017-10-13 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disease Modelling and Public Health, Part A, Volume 36 addresses new challenges in existing and emerging diseases with a variety of comprehensive chapters that cover Infectious Disease Modeling, Bayesian Disease Mapping for Public Health, Real time estimation of the case fatality ratio and risk factor of death, Alternative Sampling Designs for Time-To-Event Data with Applications to Biomarker Discovery in Alzheimer's Disease, Dynamic risk prediction for cardiovascular disease: An illustration using the ARIC Study, Theoretical advances in type 2 diabetes, Finite Mixture Models in Biostatistics, and Models of Individual and Collective Behavior for Public Health Epidemiology. As a two part volume, the series covers an extensive range of techniques in the field. It present a vital resource for statisticians who need to access a number of different methods for assessing epidemic spread in population, or in formulating public health policy. Presents a comprehensive, two-part volume written by leading subject experts Provides a unique breadth and depth of content coverage Addresses the most cutting-edge developments in the field Includes chapters on Ebola and the Zika virus; topics which have grown in prominence and scholarly output

Book Rethinking Social Epidemiology

    Book Details:
  • Author : Patricia O’Campo
  • Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
  • Release : 2011-10-05
  • ISBN : 9400721382
  • Pages : 348 pages

Download or read book Rethinking Social Epidemiology written by Patricia O’Campo and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-10-05 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To date, much of the empirical work in social epidemiology has demonstrated the existence of health inequalities along a number of axes of social differentiation. However, this research, in isolation, will not inform effective solutions to health inequalities. Rethinking Social Epidemiology provides an expanded vision of social epidemiology as a science of change, one that seeks to better address key questions related to both the causes of social inequalities in health (problem-focused research) as well as the implementation of interventions to alleviate conditions of marginalization and poverty (solution-focused research). This book is ideally suited for emerging and practicing social epidemiologists as well as graduate students and health professionals in related disciplines.

Book Spatial Agent Based Simulation Modeling in Public Health

Download or read book Spatial Agent Based Simulation Modeling in Public Health written by S. M. Niaz Arifin and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents an overview of the complex biological systems used within a global public health setting and features a focus on malaria analysis Bridging the gap between agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) and geographic information systems (GIS), Spatial Agent-Based Simulation Modeling in Public Health: Design, Implementation, and Applications for Malaria Epidemiology provides a useful introduction to the development of agent-based models (ABMs) by following a conceptual and biological core model of Anopheles gambiae for malaria epidemiology. Using spatial ABMs, the book includes mosquito (vector) control interventions and GIS as two example applications of ABMs, as well as a brief description of epidemiology modeling. In addition, the authors discuss how to most effectively integrate spatial ABMs with a GIS. The book concludes with a combination of knowledge from entomological, epidemiological, simulation-based, and geo-spatial domains in order to identify and analyze relationships between various transmission variables of the disease. Spatial Agent-Based Simulation Modeling in Public Health: Design, Implementation, and Applications for Malaria Epidemiology also features: Location-specific mosquito abundance maps that play an important role in malaria control activities by guiding future resource allocation for malaria control and identifying hotspots for further investigation Discussions on the best modeling practices in an effort to achieve improved efficacy, cost-effectiveness, ecological soundness, and sustainability of vector control for malaria An overview of the various ABMs, GIS, and spatial statistical methods used in entomological and epidemiological studies, as well as the model malaria study A companion website with computer source code and flowcharts of the spatial ABM and a landscape generator tool that can simulate landscapes with varying spatial heterogeneity of different types of resources including aquatic habitats and houses Spatial Agent-Based Simulation Modeling in Public Health: Design, Implementation, and Applications for Malaria Epidemiology is an excellent reference for professionals such as modeling and simulation experts, GIS experts, spatial analysts, mathematicians, statisticians, epidemiologists, health policy makers, as well as researchers and scientists who use, manage, or analyze infectious disease data and/or infectious disease-related projects. The book is also ideal for graduate-level courses in modeling and simulation, bioinformatics, biostatistics, public health and policy, and epidemiology.

Book How Modeling Can Inform Strategies to Improve Population Health

Download or read book How Modeling Can Inform Strategies to Improve Population Health written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April 2015, the Institute of Medicine convened a workshop to explore the potential uses of simulation and other types of modeling for the purpose of selecting and refining potential strategies, ranging from interventions to investments, to improve the health of communities and the nation's health. Participants worked to identify how modeling could inform population health decision making based on lessons learned from models that have been, or have not been, used successfully, opportunities and barriers to incorporating models into decision making, and data needs and opportunities to leverage existing data and to collect new data for modeling. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions from this workshop.

Book Modeling the Interplay Between Human Behavior and the Spread of Infectious Diseases

Download or read book Modeling the Interplay Between Human Behavior and the Spread of Infectious Diseases written by Piero Manfredi and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-01-04 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume summarizes the state-of-the-art in the fast growing research area of modeling the influence of information-driven human behavior on the spread and control of infectious diseases. In particular, it features the two main and inter-related “core” topics: behavioral changes in response to global threats, for example, pandemic influenza, and the pseudo-rational opposition to vaccines. In order to make realistic predictions, modelers need to go beyond classical mathematical epidemiology to take these dynamic effects into account. With contributions from experts in this field, the book fills a void in the literature. It goes beyond classical texts, yet preserves the rationale of many of them by sticking to the underlying biology without compromising on scientific rigor. Epidemiologists, theoretical biologists, biophysicists, applied mathematicians, and PhD students will benefit from this book. However, it is also written for Public Health professionals interested in understanding models, and to advanced undergraduate students, since it only requires a working knowledge of mathematical epidemiology.

Book Multilevel Modelling for Public Health and Health Services Research

Download or read book Multilevel Modelling for Public Health and Health Services Research written by Alastair H. Leyland and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book is a practical introduction to multilevel modelling or multilevel analysis (MLA) - a statistical technique being increasingly used in public health and health services research. The authors begin with a compelling argument for the importance of researchers in these fields having an understanding of MLA to be able to judge not only the growing body of research that uses it, but also to recognise the limitations of research that did not use it. The volume also guides the analysis of real-life data sets by introducing and discussing the use of the multilevel modelling software MLwiN, the statistical package that is used with the example data sets. Importantly, the book also makes the training material accessible for download - not only the datasets analysed within the book, but also a freeware version of MLwiN to allow readers to work with these datasets. The book's practical review of MLA comprises: Theoretical, conceptual, and methodological background Statistical background The modelling process and presentation of research Tutorials with example datasets Multilevel Modelling for Public Health and Health Services Research: Health in Context is a practical and timely resource for public health and health services researchers, statisticians interested in the relationships between contexts and behaviour, graduate students across these disciplines, and anyone interested in utilising multilevel modelling or multilevel analysis. "Leyland and Groenewegen's wealth of teaching experience makes this book and its accompanying tutorials especially useful for a practical introduction to multilevel analysis." ̶ Juan Merlo, Professor of Social Epidemiology, Lund University "Comprehensive and insightful. A must for anyone interested in the applications of multilevel modelling to population health". ̶ S. (Subu) V. Subramanian, Professor of Population Health and Geography, Harvard University.

Book Multilevel Modelling for Public Health and Health Services Research

Download or read book Multilevel Modelling for Public Health and Health Services Research written by Alastair H Leyland and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-09 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book is a practical introduction to multilevel modelling or multilevel analysis (MLA) - a statistical technique being increasingly used in public health and health services research. The authors begin with a compelling argument for the importance of researchers in these fields having an understanding of MLA to be able to judge not only the growing body of research that uses it, but also to recognise the limitations of research that did not use it. The volume also guides the analysis of real-life data sets by introducing and discussing the use of the multilevel modelling software MLwiN, the statistical package that is used with the example data sets. Importantly, the book also makes the training material accessible for download - not only the datasets analysed within the book, but also a freeware version of MLwiN to allow readers to work with these datasets. The book's practical review of MLA comprises: Theoretical, conceptual, and methodological background Statistical background The modelling process and presentation of research Tutorials with example datasets Multilevel Modelling for Public Health and Health Services Research: Health in Context is a practical and timely resource for public health and health services researchers, statisticians interested in the relationships between contexts and behaviour, graduate students across these disciplines, and anyone interested in utilising multilevel modelling or multilevel analysis. "Leyland and Groenewegen's wealth of teaching experience makes this book and its accompanying tutorials especially useful for a practical introduction to multilevel analysis." ̶ Juan Merlo, Professor of Social Epidemiology, Lund University "Comprehensive and insightful. A must for anyone interested in the applications of multilevel modelling to population health". ̶ S. (Subu) V. Subramanian, Professor of Population Health and Geography, Harvard University; For researchers and students with a basic mastery of ordinary least squares and logistic regression Discusses multilevel analysis in context of public health, health services research, and epidemiology Includes an online component where users can download the datasets analyzed in the book, and also a freeware version of the multilevel modelling software MLwiN ​​​​​​​Can be used as part of a course on multilevel modelling, or as a self-training text This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

Book Methods in Social Epidemiology

Download or read book Methods in Social Epidemiology written by J. Michael Oakes and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2006-05-11 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social epidemiology is the study of how social interactions—social norms, laws, institutions, conventia, social conditions and behavior—affect the health of populations. This practical, comprehensive introduction to methods in social epidemiology is written by experts in the field. It is perfectly timed for the growth in interest among those in public health, community health, preventive medicine, sociology, political science, social work, and other areas of social research. Topics covered are: Introduction: Advancing Methods in Social Epidemiology The History of Methods of Social Epidemilogy to 1965 Indicators of Socioeconomic Position Measuring and Analyzing 'Race' Racism and Racial Discrimination Measuring Poverty Measuring Health Inequalities A Conceptual Framework for Measuring Segregation and its Association with Population Outcomes Measures of Residential Community Contexts Using Census Data to Approximate Neighborhood Effects Community-based Participatory Research: Rationale and Relevance for Social Epidemiology Network Methods in Social Epidemiology Identifying Social Interactions: A Review, Multilevel Studies Experimental Social Epidemiology: Controlled Community Trials Propensity Score Matching Methods for Social Epidemiology Natural Experiments and Instrumental Variable Analyses in Social Epidemiology and Using Causal Diagrams to Understand Common Problems in Social Epidemiology. "Publication of this highly informative textbook clearly reflects the coming of age of many social epidemiology methods, the importance of which rests on their potential contribution to significantly improving the effectiveness of the population-based approach to prevention. This book should be of great interest not only to more advanced epidemiology students but also to epidemiologists in general, particularly those concerned with health policy and the translation of epidemiologic findings into public health practice. The cause of achieving a ‘more complete’ epidemiology envisaged by the editors has been significantly advanced by this excellent textbook." —Moyses Szklo, professor of epidemiology and editor-in-chief, American Journal of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University "Social epidemiology is a comparatively new field of inquiry that seeks to describe and explain the social and geographic distribution of health and of the determinants of health. This book considers the major methodological challenges facing this important field. Its chapters, written by experts in a variety of disciplines, are most often authoritative, typically provocative, and often debatable, but always worth reading." —Stephen W. Raudenbush, Lewis-Sebring Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago "The roadmap for a new generation of social epidemiologists. The publication of this treatise is a significant event in the history of the discipline." —Ichiro Kawachi, professor of social epidemiology, Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard University "Methods in Social Epidemiology not only illuminates the difficult questions that future generations of social epidemiologists must ask, it also identifies the paths they must boldly travel in the pursuit of answers, if this exciting interdisciplinary science is to realize its full potential. This beautifully edited volume appears at just the right moment to exert a profound influence on the field." —Sherman A. James, Susan B. King Professor of Public Policy Studies, professor of Community and Family Medicine, professor of African-American Studies, Duke University

Book Social Epidemiology

    Book Details:
  • Author : Julie Cwikel
  • Publisher : Columbia University Press
  • Release : 2006
  • ISBN : 9780231100489
  • Pages : 640 pages

Download or read book Social Epidemiology written by Julie Cwikel and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By tracking the distribution of disease and pinpointing relevant risk factors, social epidemiology reveals how social problems are intrinsically linked to the health of populations. The practice also takes into account the psychosocial, biological, and medical determinants of disease and health, encouraging a rich and multidisciplinary approach to analyzing and solving complex contemporary social issues. This book provides a clear and comprehensive set of tools for practice. Julie Cwikel begins with an overview of the historical roots of public health and social medicine and shows how they formed the theoretical basis for current social epidemiological methods. Cwikel then explains the theoretical and programmatic tools social epidemiologists use in their research, program planning, and evaluation. In conclusion, Cwikel demonstrates how the SOCEPID model can be applied to a range of topics, including chronic illness, obesity, violence prevention, occupational health, sexually transmitted diseases (especially HIV), environmental hazards, and addressing the needs of vulnerable populations such as immigrants and trafficked women. With compelling authority, Cwikel shows readers how the exciting and growing field of social epidemiology is both practical and activist, drawing on cutting-edge empirical findings to conduct policymaking research and promote health at both the personal and population levels.

Book Modeling Behavior in Complex Public Health Systems

Download or read book Modeling Behavior in Complex Public Health Systems written by Christopher Keane, MPH, ScD and published by Springer Publishing Company. This book was released on 2013-09-27 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This graduate text is the first to present methods for modeling health behavior dynamics, using numerous online interactive simulations, downloadable programs, and examples of applications to planning interventions. The book examines behaviors that range from simple individual health protective actions to complex cooperative public health actions. It provides a user-friendly and effective method for teaching systems thinking, a core competency now required by the Association of Schools of Public Health. The text presents evolutionary and ecological models of health behavior, which readers first explore using interactive online simulations. The fundamental principles of these models are explained through the book's narrative and demonstrated through the use of simple board games. The text then shows how to translate these board games into computational models using Netlogo, a free, user-friendly software. Thus no computer programming background is required. Readers will learn the basics of agent-based modeling of individual behavior, social network behavior, organizational behavior, spread of disease, and a variety of public health interventions. Applying these methods to public health systems, sample models introduce the dynamics of networks of organizations and how they can interact to protect health. A unifying theme throughout is how complex individual and collective health behavior develop from simple individual health decisions or behavior repeated over time. The book also includes a student's models at successive stages of learning, including her early-stage incorrect program, which readers can themselves try to correct. Students will learn to create their own models, use them to conduct simulated experiments, and apply these methods to planning and evaluating behavior change interventions. Each chapter provides online interactive models and downloadable sample programs. Key Features: Uses interactive simulation for modeling health behavior dynamics for complex public health systems Demonstrates agent-based modeling of individual health behavior, network behavior, public health intervention effects, and the spread of disease Teaches readers to create models that can improve their local needs assessments, program logic modeling, and program planning and evaluation Includes numerous interactive online simulations, downloadable programs, and examples of applications to planning interventions Facilitates "systems thinking," a required core competency