Public Health Law Research: Editor's Introduction
Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 629-643, 2013
Northeastern University School of Law Research Paper No. 154-2013
Posted: 24 Sep 2013 Last revised: 3 Nov 2013
Date Written: August 1, 2013
Abstract
This paper introduces a special issue of the Journal of Health Policy, Politics & Law focusing on public health law legal research (PHLR). PHLR is the "scientific study of the relation of law and legal practices to population health." A relatively new and burgeoning interdisciplinary field, PHLR is comprised of five broad categories of empirical research, each of which are represented in the special issue: policy-making studies which seek to identify factors that influence the adoption of public health legal interventions; mapping studies which employ systematic and rigorous methods of review and characterization to determine the current state of the law on an issue relevant to population health; implementation studies which examine the gap, if any, between the "law on the books" and the law on the ground; intervention studies which examine the effect of law on health outcomes or proximal factors; and mechanism studies which examine the means by which legal interventions influence health. After examining the different categories of PHLR research, and reviewing the six original PHLR papers appearing in the Special Issue, with a particular focus on the methodological issues raised by each, the Introduction explores challenges that PHLR continues to face, as well as possible solutions to those challenges.
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