Public Health Applied Research Group
About us
The Applied Research Group (ARG) in Public Health has been established to influence the policies and practices of local statutory agencies and voluntary and community organisations through a programme of applied research, evaluation and consultancy.
The ARG is based in the Department of Nursing Midwifery & Healthcare, but draws upon the expertise of other departments of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Coventry University.
It has been established at a time when professional groups within the healthcare system are increasingly 'refocusing upstream' – that is, investigating the underlying causes of the conditions that they meet in their day-to-day practice.
This means working to a Social Model of Health. Under this model, we look more deeply into the health status of populations and the health status inequalities within populations. They are analysed against the broader social, environmental and economic factors from which they are seen to originate.
We have been particularly focused on the increasing engagement at the community level that adopting this model implies. The Applied Research Group is working with partner organisations from the health and local government sectors to explore the implications of this model for its projects and programmes.
The Public Health ARG can offer a range of applied research services. We welcome the opportunity to provide consultancy services, assisting, for example, the monitoring and evaluation of ongoing projects and programmes. But we also look for the opportunity to undertake original applied research, joining with partners to investigate new areas of knowledge and methods of practice.
Latest
- Neil Gopee's book Mentoring and Supervision in Healthcare examines the knowledge base, skills and attitudes required for mentoring in the context of healthcare
- Dr Colin Thunhurst, ARG leader, offers a critique of the predominant biomedical approach to human health in this podcast on health inequalities
- Andrée Dignon's book, All of Me - A Fuller Picture of Anorexia, presents compelling new data from 104 anorexics that challenges established opinion about what kind of people contract the disorder
Find out more on the Public Health Applied Research Group's Annual Report.