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. 2025 Jun;115(6):883-889.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2025.308015. Epub 2025 Apr 3.

Advancing the Study of Power: Opportunities and Priorities for Understanding Population Health Inequities

Megan M Reynolds  1 , Sandro Galea  1
Affiliations

Advancing the Study of Power: Opportunities and Priorities for Understanding Population Health Inequities

Megan M Reynolds et al. Am J Public Health. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

In this essay, we provide an overview of how power has been conceptualized in public health and allied fields and describe recent advances connecting power to the topic of health inequities. To aid researchers in capitalizing on these historical and contemporary insights, we offer 6 concrete suggestions for empirical work. Systematic analyses involving these recommendations can help return public health scholars to foundational principles of the field and test the limits of power as an explanatory factor in population health inequities. (Am J Public Health. 2025;115(6):883-889. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2025.308015).

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