Oxford Textbook of Public Health Palliative Care Doody's Expert Review Review Questionnaire ISBN: 9780198862994 ISBN-10: 0198862997 Copyright: 2022 Edition: 1st Editor: Abel, Julian, Kellehear, Allan, Doody's Expert Review    Score: 88 Doody's Star Rating™ and Doody's Expert Review provide by Doody Enterprises, Inc. Reviewer: Rebecca Gagne-Henderson,  PhD, MSN/FNP  (Connecticut Organization to Advance Palliative Care) Description This book is important for those looking to broaden the scope of the traditional view of palliative care. In its relatively short history, palliative care has concentrated on clinical aspects. This eye-opening book speaks to those who struggle to approach palliative care at the community and public health levels. The description of public health as more than safety, sanitation, and epidemiology is equally enlightening. It rightfully includes community health, which has been the purview of nursing for the past 100 years. Purpose The purpose of the book is to broaden the scope of palliative care as a clinical model to include a community perspective. It provides a framework for advocates to build grassroots programs to benefit populations that typically do not have access to palliative care or hospice. The book describes palliative care from a holistic approach, which has been fading from palliative care as it moves from an interdisciplinary model to a medical model. The book meets its objectives fearlessly and is a much-needed addition to the lexicon of palliative care. Audience This book should be required reading for physicians in fellowship programs and nurses in palliative care to remind them of the purpose of their work. It should also be required reading for social workers, as they will inevitably work with the seriously ill and dying at some point in their career. Healthcare advocates, community workers, and hospice leaders will benefit from this book to gain a fresh perspective on developing innovative programs to reach the underserved. The authors are well versed in both palliative care and public health. Features Much of the book illustrates the importance and need for this new perspective. These sections describe how this approach addresses population health and health disparities. One chapter is dedicated to the challenges of demographic issues from a local and global perspective. The book discusses the differences and similarities between health and well-being. It also describes the traditional view of public health and introduces an expanded view incorporating a community health approach. One of the most critical chapters addresses the societal nature of dying and the social model of health. A public health perspective on palliative care is also necessary, owing to the modern medical model distorting our Western society's ability to care for the dying. A public health approach is required to re-educate, re-establish, and reinforce our confidence in caring for the dying. This will enable a change in mindset and promote a reclamation of death as a natural process within the domain of the family and community, rather than a medicalized process. One chapter provides an overview of "The New Essentials," and describes the components of palliative care. This is an important chapter for public health students unfamiliar with the field. It also describes the civic component of palliative care and how palliative care clinicians support the community. Assessment This new approach is inspiring and necessary, owing to increased medical technology, which distorts the ability of societies to care for the dying. Palliative care workers in the community who use the methods described in this book may help re-establish a comfort with dying that has been lost over the past few generations. However, the book also speaks to clinical models related to death. There is an undeniable overlap between medicine and public health, especially regarding palliative care. These models and theories are essential when considering the pedagogy of clinical and public health efforts. The book is decidedly Eurocentric, except for some mention of Australia. The data presented could be broader to reflect an international audience, though the content is generalizable. One drawback is the book's temporal discussion of COVID-19, which is now historical in context. This content now appears dated. It is appropriate to address as a public health book, but only because the pandemic drew attention to the greater need for palliative care. This book is an important work that moves past the previous efforts of educating clinicians. It is forward-looking and speaks a great deal about how to build networks in the community. It shows a practical way to engage the community in their own care to prevent harm and seek hospice and palliative care earlier. It empowers the community and invites clinicians to engage with one another in ways that have not occurred widely in the past. Review Questionnaire Range Question Score 1-10 Are the author's objectives met? 8 1-10 Rate the worthiness of those objectives. 10 1-5 Is this written at an appropriate level? 5 1-5 Is there significant duplication? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 3 1-5 Are there significant omissions? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 4 1-5 Rate the authority of the authors. 5 1-5 Are there sufficient illustrations? 5 1-5 Rate the pedagogic value of the illustrations. 4 1-5 Rate the print quality of the illustrations. 5 1-5 Are there sufficient references? 3 1-5 Rate the currency of the references. 4 1-5 Rate the pertinence of the references. 4 1-5 Rate the helpfulness of the index. 5 1-5 If important in this specialty, rate the physical appearance of the book N/A 1-10 Is this a worthwhile contribution to the field? 10 1-10 If this is a 2nd or later edition, is this new edition needed? N/A ©2025 Doody Enterprises, Inc.