Word cloud analysis of historical changes in the subject matter of public health practice in the United Kingdom

• Published in: Public health (London) Vol. 197; pp. 39 - 41
• Main Author: Atenstaedt, R.L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Houndsmill Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Analysis; Cancer; Chronic illnesses; Graphical representations; Health behavior; History; Holistic approach; Infectious Disease; Infectious diseases; Internal Medicine; Pictorial work; Public health; Well being; Workforce; United Kingdom > UK; Pictorial work; History; Analysis; Public health
• ISSN: 0033-3506; 1476-5616; 1476-5616
• DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.06.010

This study aimed to use the content of the journal Public Health to paint a picture of changing public health practice in the United Kingdom over the last 150 years. Word cloud analysis was used in this study. Word clouds were generated for all issues in three separate years, 65 years apart, chosen to represent entirely different periods of public health practice – 1888, 1953 and 2018. The analysis has been successful in illustrating how the focus of public health practice has changed over the last 150 years in the United Kingdom. The majority of the analysis has corresponded with the four waves of public health improvement as set out by Hanlon et al. moving from the response to infectious disease caused by the problems of the Industrial Revolution to a focus on the determinants of health and well-being that lie behind chronic diseases, such as cancer. The most recent word cloud for 2018 has illustrated the holistic nature of modern public health practice, the multidisciplinary nature of its workforce and the fact that it is much more gender balanced than in the past.