Skip to main content

Mental and Simulated Models in Health Policy Making

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Application of Systems Thinking to Health Policy & Public Health Ethics

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Public Health ((BRIEFSPUHEAET))

  • 1419 Accesses

Abstract

Models are approximations. We make mental models all the time. These mental models start the process but it does not end there. Whether they on their own are helpful is another story altogether. System thinking, by way of formal models, offers policymakers’ microworlds to offset attribution errors and faulty sense making that can lead policy astray. This chapter offers a brief descriptive of simulation as applications of system thinking education to state policymaking, system dynamics modeling of prescription opiate abuse as well as a look at avatar-like simulation of health-care data based on mathematical models for policy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Agrawal D, Giles J, Lee KW, Lobo J (2005) Policy ratification. Policies for distributed systems and networks, 2005. Sixth IEEE international workshop on policies for distributed systems and networks, 223–232. doi:10.1109/POLICY.2005.25

    Google Scholar 

  • Booth Sweeney L, Sterman JD (2000) Bathtub dynamics: initial results of a systems thinking inventory. Syst Dyn Rev 16:249–294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Box GEP, Draper NR (1987) Empirical model building and response surfaces. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Forrester J (2007) System dynamics—the next fifty years. Syst Dyn Rev 23(2/3):359–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez C, Wong H (2012) Understanding stocks and flows through analogy. Syst Dyn Rev 28(1):3–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamid TKA (2009) Thinking in circles about obesity. Springer, New York

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Homer J, Milstein B (2004) Optimal Decision making in a dynamic model of community health. Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii international conference on system science. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi:10.1.1.135.3301&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed 15 April 2014

  • Homer J, Hirsch G, Milstein B (2007) Chronic illness in a complex health economy: the perils and promises of downstream and upstream reforms. Syst Dyn Rev 23(2/3):313–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meadows D (1997) Places to intervene in a system. Whole earth review. http://www.wholeearth.com/issue/2091/article/27/places.to.intervene.in.a.system. Accessed 8 June 2014

  • Meadows D (1999) Leverage points: places to intervene in a system. The Sustainability Institute, Hartland

    Google Scholar 

  • Meadows D (2008) Thinking in systems: a primer. Chelsea Green, River Junction

    Google Scholar 

  • Minyard KJ, Ferencik R, Phillips MA, Soderquist S (2014) Using systems thinking in state health policymaking. Health Systems. doi:10.1057/hs.2013.17

    Google Scholar 

  • Papert S (1980) Mindstorms. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Repenning N, Sterman J (1999) Getting quality the old fashioned way: self-confirming attributions in the dynamics of process improvement. In: Scott R, Cole R (eds) The quality movement and organizational theory. Sage, Newbury Park

    Google Scholar 

  • Schon D (1992) The theory of inquiry: Dewey’s legacy to education. Curric Inquiry 22(2):119–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sterman J (2000) Business dynamics—systems thinking and modeling for a complex world. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sterman J (2006) Learning from evidence in a complex world. Am J Public Health 96(3):505–514

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michele Battle-Fisher .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Battle-Fisher, M. (2015). Mental and Simulated Models in Health Policy Making. In: Application of Systems Thinking to Health Policy & Public Health Ethics. SpringerBriefs in Public Health(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12203-8_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12203-8_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-12202-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-12203-8

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics