Epidemiological Perspective Paper

Epidemiological Perspective The epidemiological perspective “focuses on quantifying health problems, using national data sets, and applying epidemiological methods and statistics” (Issel, 2014). This assessment model aims to answer evaluator questions that have an epidemiological focus, such as, “What illness and disease trends are evident?” or “What is the magnitude of the problem?” With this perspective, evaluators also aim to find out whether the problem is preventable or treatable as well as what is currently being done to acknowledge and improve the problem. Essentially, an epidemiological model would focus on identifying hazards, risks, and precursors to diabetes in young adults. According to Issel (2014), two examples of tools that can be used in the epidemiological model are disease and death registries and national probability sample surveys such as the National Health Information Survey (NHIS) and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). An advantage to this type of needs assessment model is that it can provide data for assigning relative weights to the seriousness of a health problem, the importance of that health problem, and its prevalence. Unfortunately, epidemiological models do not provide a wide range of data that might also be critical in prioritizing health

This perspective reflects an interest in the health of a targeted population. It also aims to find out what the seriousness of a health problem might be, the distribution of a health problem, and what factors are contributing to a health problem. The public health perspective model might ask questions such as, “What resources are available to address increasing cases of diabetes among young adults?” or “What is the perceived importance of the problem with diabetes in young