Evidence and Effectiveness in Decisionmaking for Quarantine Journal Articles

abstract

• When public health decisionmakers turned to quarantine during the recent severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, difficult questions were raised about the legitimacy and acceptability of restrictive measures to attain public health goals. SARS also brought to light how scientific uncertainty can permeate public health decisionmaking, leading us to think about the relationship between the adequacy of evidence of the effectiveness of an intervention and its role in the justification of public health action. In this article, we critically examine the role of evidence and effectiveness in decision-making for quarantine. It is our contention that the effectiveness of a public health intervention should not be defined exclusively in (absolute and objective) scientific terms but rather conceptualized relationally and normatively in public health decisionmaking.

authors

• Bensimon, Cécile M
• Upshur, Ross

status

• published 

publication date

• April 2007

has subject area

• 11 Medical and Health Sciences (FoR)
• Decision Making (MeSH)
• Disease Outbreaks (MeSH)
• Humans (MeSH)
• Public Health (Science Metrix)
• Public Health Practice (MeSH)
• Public Policy (MeSH)
• Quarantine (MeSH)
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (MeSH)

published in

• American Journal of Public Health  Journal

keywords

• Decision Making
• Disease Outbreaks
• Humans
• Public Health Practice
• Public Policy
• Quarantine
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.2105/ajph.2005.077305

start page

• S44

end page

• S48

volume

• 97

issue

• Supplement_1