Public Health Practice

The collection and analysis of identifiable health data by a public health authority for the aim of preserving the health of a particular community, when the benefits and hazards are primarily designed to accrue to the participating population, is referred to as public health practice. The application of established, accepted, and proven methods to address public health issues dominates public health practice. Case–control, cohort, and cross-sectional study designs, as well as other systematic approaches employed in research, are often used in public health practice. Similarly, even if the investigation was not planned to create generalizable knowledge, discoveries from public health efforts, such as a disease outbreak investigation, may lead to generalizable knowledge.

• Hypothesis testing
• Cross-sectional study designs
• Systematic methodologies