O presente estudo orientado pelo método dialético-crítico aborda o Serviço Social no Apoio Matricial em Saúde Mental e teve como objetivo geral analisar a ação profissional do assistente social junto às equipes de apoio matricial nos municípios da 10ª Região de Saúde do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, na direção da garantia do acesso ao direito à Saúde Mental, no intuito de contribuir na construção do conhecimento e intervenção do Serviço Social na Saúde Mental. O apoio matricial é uma tecnologia de suporte técnico-pedagógico e retaguarda assistencial à Atenção Básica previsto no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), que se instituiu na problematização da ordem organizacional tradicional de atenção à saúde e o modelo técnico-assistencial hegemônico, visando melhorar a articulação entre as equipes e entre os setores com vistas à integralidade e resolutividade assistencial. Esta pesquisa fundamenta-se na teoria social crítica, que instiga a apreensão da Política de Saúde e do Serviço Social em seu movimento contraditório, tornando-se relevante a discussão sobre as ações dos assistentes sociais diante das novas demandas postas à profissão no âmbito do SUS, num contexto permeado por contradições que ora são traduzidos pela precariedade das ofertas, limitando a inserção da categoria profissional, ora engendrando um campo de trabalho com possibilidade de ser ocupado pelos profissionais de forma madura e qualificada. Os sujeitos participantes do estudo compreenderam seis profissionais de Serviço Social e cinco gestores imediatos das equipes matriciadoras, num total de onze profissionais das equipes de apoio matricial em saúde mental dos municípios da 10ª Região de Saúde. A coleta de dados foi através de entrevista semiestruturada, submetidos à análise de conteúdo com base em Moraes (1999). Como principais resultados, esta pesquisa revelou a existência de variadas aplicações do Apoio Matricial e formas de atuação profissional, não havendo uma padronização quanto à metodologia empregada. Apesar de tímidas produções teóricas sobre o Apoio Matricial, a categoria profissional demonstrou conhecimento e intervenção afinados à metodologia proposta. Percebe-se o entendimento de saúde mental na lógica dos direitos sociais pelos profissionais, bem como seu reconhecimento e legitimidade estão ligados à ―expertise‖ do assistente social na tradução da realidade social, ao mesmo tempo que aparecem elementos da persistência da tradição conservadora. Cabe inferir que as ações profissionais do Serviço Social nas equipes de Apoio Matricial em Saúde Mental são historicamente construídas e legitimadas pela categoria no campo das políticas públicas. Os assistentes sociais e os gestores concordam que o assistente social traduz a realidade social, atua na perspectiva da interdisciplinaridade e intersetorialidade, permitindo concretude, direcionalidade e visibilidade à profissão, fazendo parte do conjunto de ações profissionais no SUS. / The present study oriented by the dialectical-critical method approaches the Social Service in Matrix Support in Mental Health and had as general objective to analyze the professional action of the social worker with the teams of matrix support in the municipalities of the 10th Region of Health of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, towards the guarantee of access to the right to Mental Health, in order to contribute to the construction of knowledge and intervention of Social Service in Mental Health. The matrix support is a technology of technical and pedagogical support and rearguard assistance to Basic Care provided in the Unified Health System (SUS), which was instituted in the problematization of the traditional organizational order of health care and the hegemonic technical-assistance model, aiming to improve the articulation between the teams and between the sectors with a view to completeness and assistance resolution. This research is based on critical social theory, which instigates the apprehension of Health and Social Service Policy in its contradictory movement, becoming relevant the discussion about the actions of social workers in the face of new demands placed on the profession within the scope of the SUS , in a context permeated by contradictions that sometimes are translated by the precariousness of the offers, limiting the insertion of the professional category, sometimes engendering a field of work with the possibility of being occupied by professionals in a mature and qualified way. The subjects included in the study comprised six Social Service professionals and five immediate managers of the training teams, in a total of eleven professionals of the mental health matrix support teams of the municipalities of the 10th Region of Health. Data collection was through a semi-structured interview, submitted to content analysis based on Moraes (1999). As main results, this research revealed the existence of various applications of the Matrix Support and forms of professional performance, not having a standardization regarding the methodology used. Despite timid theoretical productions on Matrix Support, the professional category demonstrated knowledge and intervention in tune with the proposed methodology. The understanding of mental health in the logic of social rights by professionals, as well as their recognition and legitimacy, are linked to the social worker's "expertise" in the translation of social reality, while elements of the persistence of the conservative tradition appear. It is possible to infer that the professional actions of the Social Service in the Matrix Support in Mental Health teams are historically built and legitimized by the category in the field of public policies. Social workers and managers agree that the social worker translates social reality, acts in the perspective of interdisciplinarity and intersectoriality, allowing concreteness, directionality and visibility to the profession, being part of the set of professional actions in the SUS.

O presente estudo orientado pelo método dialético-crítico aborda o Serviço Social no Apoio Matricial em Saúde Mental e teve como objetivo geral analisar a ação profissional do assistente social junto às equipes de apoio matricial nos municípios da 10ª Região de Saúde do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, na direção da garantia do acesso ao direito à Saúde Mental, no intuito de contribuir na construção do conhecimento e intervenção do Serviço Social na Saúde Mental. O apoio matricial é uma tecnologia de suporte técnico-pedagógico e retaguarda assistencial à Atenção Básica previsto no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), que se instituiu na problematização da ordem organizacional tradicional de atenção à saúde e o modelo técnico-assistencial hegemônico, visando melhorar a articulação entre as equipes e entre os setores com vistas à integralidade e resolutividade assistencial. Esta pesquisa fundamenta-se na teoria social crítica, que instiga a apreensão da Política de Saúde e do Serviço Social em seu movimento contraditório, tornando-se relevante a discussão sobre as ações dos assistentes sociais diante das novas demandas postas à profissão no âmbito do SUS, num contexto permeado por contradições que ora são traduzidos pela precariedade das ofertas, limitando a inserção da categoria profissional, ora engendrando um campo de trabalho com possibilidade de ser ocupado pelos profissionais de forma madura e qualificada. Os sujeitos participantes do estudo compreenderam seis profissionais de Serviço Social e cinco gestores imediatos das equipes matriciadoras, num total de onze profissionais das equipes de apoio matricial em saúde mental dos municípios da 10ª Região de Saúde. A coleta de dados foi através de entrevista semiestruturada, submetidos à análise de conteúdo com base em Moraes (1999). Como principais resultados, esta pesquisa revelou a existência de variadas aplicações do Apoio Matricial e formas de atuação profissional, não havendo uma padronização quanto à metodologia empregada. Apesar de tímidas produções teóricas sobre o Apoio Matricial, a categoria profissional demonstrou conhecimento e intervenção afinados à metodologia proposta. Percebe-se o entendimento de saúde mental na lógica dos direitos sociais pelos profissionais, bem como seu reconhecimento e legitimidade estão ligados à ―expertise‖ do assistente social na tradução da realidade social, ao mesmo tempo que aparecem elementos da persistência da tradição conservadora. Cabe inferir que as ações profissionais do Serviço Social nas equipes de Apoio Matricial em Saúde Mental são historicamente construídas e legitimadas pela categoria no campo das políticas públicas. Os assistentes sociais e os gestores concordam que o assistente social traduz a realidade social, atua na perspectiva da interdisciplinaridade e intersetorialidade, permitindo concretude, direcionalidade e visibilidade à profissão, fazendo parte do conjunto de ações profissionais no SUS. / The present study oriented by the dialectical-critical method approaches the Social Service in Matrix Support in Mental Health and had as general objective to analyze the professional action of the social worker with the teams of matrix support in the municipalities of the 10th Region of Health of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, towards the guarantee of access to the right to Mental Health, in order to contribute to the construction of knowledge and intervention of Social Service in Mental Health. The matrix support is a technology of technical and pedagogical support and rearguard assistance to Basic Care provided in the Unified Health System (SUS), which was instituted in the problematization of the traditional organizational order of health care and the hegemonic technical-assistance model, aiming to improve the articulation between the teams and between the sectors with a view to completeness and assistance resolution. This research is based on critical social theory, which instigates the apprehension of Health and Social Service Policy in its contradictory movement, becoming relevant the discussion about the actions of social workers in the face of new demands placed on the profession within the scope of the SUS , in a context permeated by contradictions that sometimes are translated by the precariousness of the offers, limiting the insertion of the professional category, sometimes engendering a field of work with the possibility of being occupied by professionals in a mature and qualified way. The subjects included in the study comprised six Social Service professionals and five immediate managers of the training teams, in a total of eleven professionals of the mental health matrix support teams of the municipalities of the 10th Region of Health. Data collection was through a semi-structured interview, submitted to content analysis based on Moraes (1999). As main results, this research revealed the existence of various applications of the Matrix Support and forms of professional performance, not having a standardization regarding the methodology used. Despite timid theoretical productions on Matrix Support, the professional category demonstrated knowledge and intervention in tune with the proposed methodology. The understanding of mental health in the logic of social rights by professionals, as well as their recognition and legitimacy, are linked to the social worker's "expertise" in the translation of social reality, while elements of the persistence of the conservative tradition appear. It is possible to infer that the professional actions of the Social Service in the Matrix Support in Mental Health teams are historically built and legitimized by the category in the field of public policies. Social workers and managers agree that the social worker translates social reality, acts in the perspective of interdisciplinarity and intersectoriality, allowing concreteness, directionality and visibility to the profession, being part of the set of professional actions in the SUS.

O presente estudo orientado pelo método dialético-crítico aborda o Serviço Social no Apoio Matricial em Saúde Mental e teve como objetivo geral analisar a ação profissional do assistente social junto às equipes de apoio matricial nos municípios da 10ª Região de Saúde do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, na direção da garantia do acesso ao direito à Saúde Mental, no intuito de contribuir na construção do conhecimento e intervenção do Serviço Social na Saúde Mental. O apoio matricial é uma tecnologia de suporte técnico-pedagógico e retaguarda assistencial à Atenção Básica previsto no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), que se instituiu na problematização da ordem organizacional tradicional de atenção à saúde e o modelo técnico-assistencial hegemônico, visando melhorar a articulação entre as equipes e entre os setores com vistas à integralidade e resolutividade assistencial. Esta pesquisa fundamenta-se na teoria social crítica, que instiga a apreensão da Política de Saúde e do Serviço Social em seu movimento contraditório, tornando-se relevante a discussão sobre as ações dos assistentes sociais diante das novas demandas postas à profissão no âmbito do SUS, num contexto permeado por contradições que ora são traduzidos pela precariedade das ofertas, limitando a inserção da categoria profissional, ora engendrando um campo de trabalho com possibilidade de ser ocupado pelos profissionais de forma madura e qualificada. Os sujeitos participantes do estudo compreenderam seis profissionais de Serviço Social e cinco gestores imediatos das equipes matriciadoras, num total de onze profissionais das equipes de apoio matricial em saúde mental dos municípios da 10ª Região de Saúde. A coleta de dados foi através de entrevista semiestruturada, submetidos à análise de conteúdo com base em Moraes (1999). Como principais resultados, esta pesquisa revelou a existência de variadas aplicações do Apoio Matricial e formas de atuação profissional, não havendo uma padronização quanto à metodologia empregada. Apesar de tímidas produções teóricas sobre o Apoio Matricial, a categoria profissional demonstrou conhecimento e intervenção afinados à metodologia proposta. Percebe-se o entendimento de saúde mental na lógica dos direitos sociais pelos profissionais, bem como seu reconhecimento e legitimidade estão ligados à ―expertise‖ do assistente social na tradução da realidade social, ao mesmo tempo que aparecem elementos da persistência da tradição conservadora. Cabe inferir que as ações profissionais do Serviço Social nas equipes de Apoio Matricial em Saúde Mental são historicamente construídas e legitimadas pela categoria no campo das políticas públicas. Os assistentes sociais e os gestores concordam que o assistente social traduz a realidade social, atua na perspectiva da interdisciplinaridade e intersetorialidade, permitindo concretude, direcionalidade e visibilidade à profissão, fazendo parte do conjunto de ações profissionais no SUS. / The present study oriented by the dialectical-critical method approaches the Social Service in Matrix Support in Mental Health and had as general objective to analyze the professional action of the social worker with the teams of matrix support in the municipalities of the 10th Region of Health of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, towards the guarantee of access to the right to Mental Health, in order to contribute to the construction of knowledge and intervention of Social Service in Mental Health. The matrix support is a technology of technical and pedagogical support and rearguard assistance to Basic Care provided in the Unified Health System (SUS), which was instituted in the problematization of the traditional organizational order of health care and the hegemonic technical-assistance model, aiming to improve the articulation between the teams and between the sectors with a view to completeness and assistance resolution. This research is based on critical social theory, which instigates the apprehension of Health and Social Service Policy in its contradictory movement, becoming relevant the discussion about the actions of social workers in the face of new demands placed on the profession within the scope of the SUS , in a context permeated by contradictions that sometimes are translated by the precariousness of the offers, limiting the insertion of the professional category, sometimes engendering a field of work with the possibility of being occupied by professionals in a mature and qualified way. The subjects included in the study comprised six Social Service professionals and five immediate managers of the training teams, in a total of eleven professionals of the mental health matrix support teams of the municipalities of the 10th Region of Health. Data collection was through a semi-structured interview, submitted to content analysis based on Moraes (1999). As main results, this research revealed the existence of various applications of the Matrix Support and forms of professional performance, not having a standardization regarding the methodology used. Despite timid theoretical productions on Matrix Support, the professional category demonstrated knowledge and intervention in tune with the proposed methodology. The understanding of mental health in the logic of social rights by professionals, as well as their recognition and legitimacy, are linked to the social worker's "expertise" in the translation of social reality, while elements of the persistence of the conservative tradition appear. It is possible to infer that the professional actions of the Social Service in the Matrix Support in Mental Health teams are historically built and legitimized by the category in the field of public policies. Social workers and managers agree that the social worker translates social reality, acts in the perspective of interdisciplinarity and intersectoriality, allowing concreteness, directionality and visibility to the profession, being part of the set of professional actions in the SUS.

Health policy makers are struggling to manage health care and spending. To identify strategies for improving health quality and reducing health spending, policy makers need to first understand health risks and outcomes. Despite lacking some desirable clinical detail, existing health care databases, such as national health surveys and claims and enrollment data for insured populations, are often rich in information relating patient characteristics to heath risks and outcomes. They typically encompass more inclusive populations than can feasibly be achieved with new data collection and are valuable resources for informing health policy. This dissertation illustrates how the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) and MassHealth data can be used to develop models that provide useful estimates of risks and health quality measures. It provides insights into: 1) the benefits of a proxy for the Framingham cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk score, that relies only on variables available in the MCBS, to target health interventions to policy-relevant subgroups, such as elderly Medicare beneficiaries, based on their risk of developing CVD, 2) the importance of setting appropriate risk-adjusted quality of care standards for accountable care organizations (ACOs) based on the characteristics of their enrolled members, and 3) the outsized effect of high- frequency hospital users on re-admission measures and possibly other quality measures. This work develops tools that can be used to identify and support care of vulnerable patients to both improve their health outcomes and reduce spending – an important step on the road to health equity.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vad kliniker upplever påverkar förskrivningsprocessen av mikroprocesstyrd knäkomponent (MPK) i de olika regionerna i Sverige. Metod: Kvalitativ analys med semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes. Intervjuerna genomfördes och spelades in med Zoom eller Teams programvara och data analyserades sedan tematiskt.  Resultat: 9 legitimerade ortopedingenjörer samt en legitimerad fysioterapeut från åtta olika regioner deltog i studien. Under dataanalysen identifierades fyra huvudteman samt 10 underteman. Huvudteman var: utvärdering av patientens lämplighet för MPK, utmaningar med att beräkna patientutfall, förskrivningsbarriärer och externa påverkande faktorer. Deltagarna upplevde att beräkning av patientutfall, budgetrestriktioner och att vara beroende av subjektiva bedömningar av patienter som stora utmaningar med förskrivningsprocessen av en MPK.  Slutsats: Deltagarna upplevde att förskrivningsprocessen av MPK påverkas av flertal olika faktorer; från regionala budgetar och ansökningsprocesser, till deltagarnas erfarenhet och förmåga att bedöma lämpliga MPK-kandidater. Deltagarna uttryckte utmaningar med att förskrivningsprocessen var känslobaserad och till stor del beroende av subjektiva och generella utvärderingar av patienten. Detta gjorde att ett stort ansvar av bedömningen om vem som bör få ett MPK förskrivet, låg på deltagarna själva, vilket ansågs kan bidra till inkonsekventa patientbehandlingar. Deltagarna upplevde att ett nationellt förskrivningssystem möjligen hade kunnat bidra till att processen var mer rättvis för patienterna samt underlätta processen för de själva. / Purpose: The study investigates clinicians’ experience of what is affecting the prescription of microprocessor-controlled prosthetic knees (MPKs) in different regions in Sweden. Method: Qualitative analysis with semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews were conducted and recorded using Zoom or Teams software and data was thereafter thematically analysed. Results: 9 certified prosthetists and a certified physiotherapist from eight different regions participated. During data analysis four main themes were identified along with ten subthemes. The key themes were: assessing candidate for MPK, challenges in estimating outcomes, barriers to prescribing and external influencing factors. Estimating patient outcomes, budget limitations and being dependent on subjective patient evaluations were expressed as major factors affecting the prescription of MPKs. Conclusion: The prescription of MPKs was found to be affected by several factors; from regional budgets and application processes to clinicians’ experience in assessing suitable MPK-candidates. The clinicians expressed challenges in that the prescribing process was emotionally based and relied on subjective and generalised patient assessments. This made decision-making regarding who to prescribe an MPK to, highly dependent on the clinicians’ own experience and knowledge which according to them, could lead to inconsistent treatments. Clinicians felt that a national prescription system could possibly ensure fairer patient evaluations and make the process easier for themselves.

As the percentage of school children with chronic conditions such as diabetes continues to rise, funding for school nurses to keep those students healthy and safe is decreasing. This dissertation includes three studies: (1) a systematic review of the literature on the role and impact of American elementary school nurses, (2) a focus group study that further examined the role of Kentucky school nurses and described their reaction to a new regulation that necessitates delegation of diabetes-related nursing tasks to unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP), and (3) a quantitative study that examined Kentucky school nurses’ past behaviors and future intentions regarding the delegation of diabetes-related tasks. A systematic review of the literature revealed that activities of school nurses can be conceptualized into four major areas: (a) health promotion and disease prevention; (b) triage and treatment of acute issues (e.g., injuries and infectious diseases); (c) management of chronic conditions; and (d) psychosocial support. School nursing activities are associated with increased attendance, higher quality schools, and cost savings. Focus groups in three regions of Kentucky found that Kentucky school nurses fulfill the same major roles as their counterparts across the nation, and face similar challenges such as lack of time, limited resources, language barriers, and communication issues with families. School nurse participants described their biggest impact on students as identifying and addressing students’ physical and psychosocial barriers to learning. While recent legislation was passed in Kentucky necessitating the delegation of insulin administration to UAP, school nurses had not experienced many changes at the time of the focus groups. However, some nurses said that their districts were not planning to delegate insulin administration and intended to keep a nurse in every school. Others appreciated the prospect of having more trained staff in schools to recognize signs of distress in chronically ill students. A statewide survey of 111 Kentucky school nurses indicated that nurses’ past delegation behaviors and future intentions related to delegation are rooted in the level of skilled decision-making that must occur and the risk to the student if the wrong decision is made. Unfortunately, school nurses’ intentions to delegate higher-stakes tasks (e.g. carbohydrate counting, insulin dose verification, and insulin administration) were significantly stronger than their support for (attitude related to) delegation of those tasks, which is disconcerting both for the safety of students as well as for the liability retained by delegating nurses. This disparity between support and intentions indicated that school nurses anticipate that they will have to delegate certain tasks to UAP despite their discomfort with delegating them, most likely due to high workload and lack of resources. Additional studies should be undertaken to determine the impact of legislative changes on the delivery of school health services in Kentucky and other states, particularly once school districts and nurses have had adequate time to adjust to new laws. Such studies should investigate to whom nurses are delegating health services, what tasks are being delegated, and the extent and process of training that UAP receive. Future surveys should utilize perceived behavioral control items that assess situational control (e.g. policy, workload) over delegation rather than, or in addition to, efficacy of individual skills required for delegation of nursing tasks. Researchers must further explore the discrepancies between attitude and intentions; that is, why are nurses planning to delegate tasks to UAP if they do not support the delegation of those tasks? Kentucky school nurses are champions of health promotion for children, not only in their provision of health services and health education, but also in the area of school health policy. School nurses should train UAP so that more school staff can recognize signs of distress in students with diabetes, but at the same time should continue to advocate and seek funding for a nurse in every school with the help of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

The following thesis presents an analysis of power and control in the English National Health Service. Notably, it focuses upon power and control over knowledge; over defining what is 'valid' knowledge; over the production of that valid knowledge; and over how, what, when and where that knowledge is used in everyday clinical practice. The issue reaches to the heart of professional conception and definition and hence, control over professions themselves. The thesis attempts to demonstrate the relationship between the different professional groups in the NHS, through the analysis of national, regional and local documents, and interviews with managers, doctors, nurses, dietitians and physiotherapists in three case studies, the thesis shows the complex pattern of relations and behaviour at play. Particular attention is paid to Michael Power's notion of audit and the 'Audit Explosion', which provides a framework for the thesis, and to the work of Michel Foucault, especially his ideas about power, control and panopticism. These are used as a useful metaphor to understand and explain NBS research and audit in relation to the NHS professions. The thesis ends with a cross-case analysis which draws together the rich variety of data and concludes with an analysis of the wider sociological implications ofthe thesis.

OBJECTIVE: Hospital systems and regulating agencies enforce strict guidelines barring personal items from entering the operating room (OR) - touting surgical site infections (SSIs) and patient safety as the rationale. We sought to determine whether or not evidence supporting this recommendation exists by reviewing available literature. BACKGROUND DATA: Rules and guidelines that are not evidence based may lead to increased hospital expenses and limitations on healthcare provider autonomy. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and CINAHL were searched in order to find articles that correlated personal items in the OR to documented SSIs. Articles that satisfied the following criteria were included: (1) studies looking at personal items in the OR, such as handbags, purses, badges, pagers, backpacks, jewelry phones, and eyeglasses, but not just OR equipment; and (2) the primary outcome measure was infection at the surgical site. RESULTS: Seventeen articles met inclusion criteria and were evaluated. Of the 17, the majority did not determine if personal items increased risk for SSIs. Only one article examined the correlation between a personal item near the operative site and SSI, concluding that wedding rings worn in the OR had no impact on SSIs. Most studies examined colonization rates on personal items as potential infection risk; however, no personal items were causally linked to SSI in any of these studies. CONCLUSION: There is no objective evidence to suggest that personal items in the OR increase risk for SSIs.

This thesis stems from a large, international research project funded in the UK by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (RES-000-22-2003) and led by Dr. Emma Rich and Professor John Evans at Loughborough University between 2007 and 2009. The study investigated how new health imperatives and associated curriculum initiatives were operationalized within and across eight schools located in a county in the Midlands region of England. The schools were chosen to reflect a variety of socio-cultural settings in the UK, and specifically those that were typical of the Midlands county in which the study took place. The research findings formed part of a three-way international collaboration with parallel studies conducted in Australia (led by Professor Jan Wright) and New Zealand (led by Associate Professor Lisette Burrows) and revealed, among other significant findings, that whilst some young people are deeply troubled by obesity discourse, others are emboldened by it. In pursuit of this key finding, this PhD study departs from the aforementioned project through detailed case study exploration of the emplacement , enactment and embodiment of health policy in three of the eight UK schools from the ESRC-funded study, focusing specifically on the class and cultural mediations of health imperatives in each setting and the various ways these can affect a young person s developing sense of self (particularly the relationships they develop with their own weight/size). Young people are considered to be body subjects (Blackman, 2012) whose embodiments are assembled, performed and enacted in situ. I therefore speak of troubled , insouciant and emboldened bodies as categories which reflect the fundamentally agentic, contingent, relational and fluid nature of young people s embodiment in time, place and space. Hence, whilst highlighting the deleterious and indeed ubiquitous effects of some health education programmes on some young people s relationships with their weight/size, key findings presented in this thesis offer nuance and complexity to the notion of the neoliberal body (Heywood, 2007; Rizvi and Lingard, 2010; Rose, 1999) through exploration of the ways in which contemporary health imperatives also have potential to privilege and empower some young people. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for policy makers, educators and researchers whose work concerns young people s health and well-being.

This thesis describes the development of the idea of an 'obesity epidemic' that figures prominently in contemporary public health discourse. It uses conceptual approaches from Science and Technology Studies and the history of medicine to analyse changing ideas about obesity, particularly as formulated and mobilised by British researchers from the 1960s onwards, to show how excess body weight became understood as a significant public health problem in this period. The thesis begins by describing the post-war refocusing of medical attention in developed countries from infectious diseases, the rates of which are falling, to chronic disease such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and stroke. Heart disease, in particular, became seen as an 'epidemic'. After World War II, increase research funding by the American government made possible the development of a new research method - the long-term prospective epidemiological study - and a new way of understanding chronic diseases as caused by risk factors such as high blood pressure, cigarette smoking and high blood cholesterol. Excess body weight was includes in this list of risk factors, and so became an object in increased medical attention. The thesis then outlines how a new public health coalition was formed around obesity in the 1970s by British biomedical researchers working on topics in the fields of nutrition, diabetes and coronary heart disease. It describes the development of what I call the 'individual paradigm' of obesity which characterises the condition as an individual problem that leads to heart disease and mechanical complaints and is treatable by weight loss diets. It then describes two key features of British obesity science in the 1980s and 1990s. The first of these is the adoption of the Body Mass Index and the standard cut-off points that are used to define overweight and obesity, which together facilitate the collection and dissemination of data on changes in average body weights, The second is the energy balance model of weight regulation, which served to unify the diverse disciplinary approaches to biomedical research incorporated into this new knowledge, but which could not account for the high rates of failure acknowledged as occurring with conventional treatments such as weight loss diets, anorectic drugs and bariatric surgery. The thesis describes how researchers in the field of obesity science than extended their institutional research to participate in the production of a series of reports for the World Health Organization, including one on the global epidemic of obesity published in 2000. This new platform, combined with data produced by prospective studies, enabled them to disseminate a new understanding of obesity and overweight - what I call the 'environmental paradigm' - which characterises it as a global health problem associated with an increased risk of many diseases and caused by structural factors such as inappropriate diet and sedentary lifestyles. Despite refocusing attention of structural determinants of ill health, however, public health experts were constrained by considerations of political practicality and commercial interest when calling for preventive measures in the areas of diet and physical activity. The thesis concludes by considering the different ways in which scholars have theorised the epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic disease. Drawing on approaches from the health inequalities literature, it argues that the conventional framings of chronic disease epidemiology have tended systematically to obscure structural links between obesity and other forms of diet-related ill health on the one hand, and relative poverty on the other.