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© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

This paper presents an empirically grounded call for a more nuanced engagement and situatedness with placial characteristics within a spatial epidemiology frame. By using qualitative data collected through interviews and observation to parameterise standard and spatial regression models, and through a critical interpretation of their results, we present initial inroads for a situated spatial epidemiology and an analytical framework for health/medical geographers to iteratively engage with data, modelling, and the context of both the subject and process of analysis. In this study, we explore the socioeconomic factors that influence homicide rates in the Brazilian state of Alagoas from a critical public health perspective. Informed by field observation and interviews with 24 youths in low-income neighbourhoods and prisons in Alagoas, we derive and critically reflect on three regression models to predict municipal homicide rates from 2016–2020. The model results indicate significant effects for the male population, persons without elementary school completion, households with reported income, divorced persons, households without piped water, and persons working outside their home municipality. These results are situated in the broader socioeconomic context, trajectories, and cycles of inequality in the study area and underscore the need for integrative and contextually engaged mixed method study design in spatial epidemiology.

Details

Title
Towards a Situated Spatial Epidemiology of Violence: A Placially-Informed Geospatial Analysis of Homicide in Alagoas, Brazil
Author
Walker, Blake Byron 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Cléssio Moura de Souza 1 ; Pedroso, Enrique 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Lai, Ryan S 2 ; Hunter, Paige 2 ; Tam, Jessy 2 ; Cave, Isaac 2 ; Swanlund, David 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Kevan Guilherme Nóbrega Barbosa 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Institüt für Geographie, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany; [email protected] 
 Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada; [email protected] (E.P.); [email protected] (R.S.L.); [email protected] (P.H.); [email protected] (J.T.); [email protected] (I.C.); [email protected] (D.S.) 
 Department for the Professional Master Programme in Health Research, Campus IV, Centro Universitário CESMAC, Macieó 57051-530, Brazil; [email protected] 
First page
9283
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
MDPI AG
ISSN
1661-7827
e-ISSN
1660-4601
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2470412072
Copyright
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.