Public Health
Use this guide to find information resources about public health including books, reports and journal articles.
Last updated:
17/09/2024
Key Resources
Royal College of Nursing (2021) Leaving no-one behind: the role of the nursing profession in achieving the United Nations sustainable development goals in the UK. London: RCN.
Royal College of Nursing (2016) Nurses 4 public health: promote, prevent and protect. The value and contribution of nursing to public health in the UK: final report. London: RCN.
Royal College of Nursing (2019) Public health in England. London: RCN.
Health Foundation: Useful publications and resources on healthy lives.
The Health Foundation (2018) The nation’s health as an asset. London: Health Foundation.
Marmot M, Allen J, Boyce T, Goldblatt P and Morrison J (2020) Health equity in England. The Marmot review 10 years on. London: The Institute of Health Equity.
Marmot M (2010) Fair society, healthy lives: the Marmot Review. London: The Marmot Review.
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities: Public health profiles.
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A collection of public health data from England.
View page
Public Health Wales: The Public Health Wales Observatory.
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A collection of public health data from Wales.
View page
The Scottish Public Health Observatory: Online profiles tool.
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A collection of public health data from Scotland.
View page
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (2015) All our health: personalised care and population health: a framework of evidence to guide health professionals in preventing illness, protecting health and promoting wellbeing. Updated 2024.
Public Health England (2016) The public health skills and knowledge framework (PHSKF). London: PHE.
Townsend P (1988) Inequalities in health: the Black Report and the health divide. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
UK Health Security Agency (2022) Clostridioides difficile: guidance, data and analysis.
We would like to thank the RCN Public Health member community for their input into the development of this subject guide.
Public Health
Aschengrau A and Seage G (2018) Essentials of epidemiology in public health. 4th edn. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Bambra C, Lynch L, Smith K E and Pickett K (2021) The unequal pandemic: COVID-19 and health inequalities. Bristol: Policy Press.
Birkhead G, Morrow C and Pirani S (2020) Essentials of public health. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Davies S and Pearson-Stuttard J (2020) Whose health is it anyway? Oxford: Oxford University Press
DeMarco R and Healey-Walsh J (2024) Community and public health nursing: evidence for practice. 4th edn. London: Wolters Kluwer.
Donaldson L (2017) Donaldsons’ essential public health. 4th edn. London: CRC Press.
Friis R and Sellers T (2020) Epidemiology for public health practice. 6th edn. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Illich I (1995) Limits to medicine medical nemesis: the expropriation of health. 2nd edn. London: Marion Boyers.
Kawachi I, Lang I and Ricciardi W (2020) Oxford handbook of public health practice. 4th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Marmot M (2015) The health gap: the challenge of an unequal world. London: Bloomsbury.
Matheson J, Patterson J and Neilson L (2020) Tackling causes and consequences of health inequalities: a practical guide. Milton: CRC Press.
Stanhope M and Lancaster J (2020) Public health nursing: population-centred health care in the community. London: Elsevier.
Thompson S (2023) The essential guide to public health and health promotion. 2nd edn. Abingdon: Routledge.
Watson K, Gilliam S, Yates J (2024) Essential public health: theory and practice. 3rd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Webb P, Bain C and Page A (2020) Essential epidemiology: an introduction for students and health professionals. 4th edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Prevent
Matheson J, Paterson J and Neilson L (2020) Tackling causes and consequences of health inequalities: a practical guide. London: CRC Press.
Nettleton S (2021) The sociology of health and illness. 4th edn. Cambridge, UK: Polity. 
Williams R, Kemp V, Porter K M, Healing T, Drury J (2024) Major incidents, pandemics and mental health: the psychosocial aspects of health emergencies, incidents, disasters and disease outbreaks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Protect
Hammond M (2020) Epidemics and the modern world. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Hawker J, Begg N and Reintjes R et al. (2019) Communicable disease control and health protection handbook. 4th edn. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Veenema T (2019) Disaster nursing and emergency preparedness. 4th edn. New York: Springer.
Washer P (2014) Emerging infectious diseases and society. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Promote
Bensley R and Brookins-Fisher J (2023) Community and public health education methods: a practical guide. 5th edn. London: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
Cross R, Woodall J, and Green J (2024) Green and Tones’ health promotion: planning and strategies. 5th edn. London: Sage.
Cross R (2024) Health promotion and health education in nursing. London: Sage
Evans D, Coutsaftiki D and Fathers C (2017) Health promotion and public health for nursing students. 3rd edn. London: Learning Matters.
Holland A, Phillips K, Moseley M and Joomun L (2023) Fundamentals for public health practice. London: Sage.
Linsley P and Roll C (2023) Health promotion for nursing students. 2nd edn. London: Learning Matters.
Palfrey C (2018) The future for health promotion. London: Polity Press.
Robinson S (2021) Priorities for health promotion and public health: explaining the evidence for disease prevention and health promotion. London: Routledge.
Scriven A, Woodall J and Morgan G (2024) Ewles and Simnett’s promoting health: a practical guide. 8th edn. Elsevier.
Taylor J, O’Hara L, Talbot L and Verinder G (2021) Promoting health: the primary health care approach. 7th edn. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Wild K and McGrath M (2019) Public health and health promotion for nurses at a glance. London: Wiley Blackwell.
Wills J (2022) Foundations for health promotion. 5th edn. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Wilson F, Mabhala M and Massey A (2015) Health improvement and well-being: strategies for action. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Book subject searches
Use these links to see details of books the RCN libraries hold on each topic.
Journal articles
Use these links for details of journal articles on each topic.
Journals
Journals of interest for public health. Use these links to see details of availability. - Advances in Public Health
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Open access journal:
BMC Infectious Diseases -
Open access journal:
BMC Public Health - European Journal of Public Health
- Health and Social Care in the Community
- Health Education Journal
- Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
- Journal of Public Health
- Perspectives in Public Health
- The Lancet Public Health
Events and Exhibitions
RCN exhibition: A healthful form of work, the history of public health nursing -
Public health nursing has its origins in the 1800s with the rise of social reform and efforts to improve the health of the poorest in society. This exhibition highlighted the development of public health nursing and the roles nurses have played in improving public health from the 19th century to the present day. From vaccination programmes and health visiting to sanitary and welfare reform.
View online exhibition
RCN Podcasts
Past Caring: Public health
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Frances explores perspectives of public health, past and present.
Listen to Podcast (Soundcloud)
Nursing history
Freeman M, Gordon E, Maglen K and Crowther M A (2011) Medicine, law and public policy in Scotland: c. 1850-1990. Dundee: Edinburgh University Press.
Honigsbaum M (2014) A history of the great influenza pandemics: death, panic and hysteria, 1830-1920. London: I.B. Tauris.
Honigsbaum M (2019) The pandemic century: one hundred years of panic, hysteria and hubris. London: Hurst and Company.
Stewart J (2017) Pioneers in public health: lessons from history. London: Routledge.
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Anna Shipway
Editor of this guide
RCN Library and Museum
Upcoming events relating to this subject guide
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22 Mar 2025
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Page last updated - 17/09/2024
