Mapping the historical development of physical activity and health research: A structured literature review and citation network analysis.

Little has been published about the historical development of scientific evidence in the physical activity (PA) and public health research field. The study aimed to examine the evolution of knowledge in this field. A structured literature review using formal citation network analysis methods was conducted in June-2016. Using a list of influential PA publications identified by domain experts, a snowball sampling technique was used to build a compact citation network of 141 publications that represents the backbone of the field. Articles were coded by study type and research team characteristics, then analyzed by visualizing the citation network and identifying research clusters to trace the evolution of the field. The field started in the 1950s, with a health sciences focus and strong North American and European leadership. Health outcome studies appeared most frequently in the network and policy and interventions least. Critical articles on objective measurement and public policy have influenced the progress from an emphasis on health outcomes research at early stages in the field to the more recent emerging built environment and global monitoring foci. There is only modest cross-citation across types of study. To our knowledge, this paper is the first to systematically describe the development of research on PA and public health. The key publications include fundamental ideas that remain citable over time, but notable research and dissemination gaps exist and should be addressed. Increasing collaboration and communication between study areas, encouraging female researchers, and increasing studies on interventions, evaluation of interventions and policy are recommended.

Mapping the development of research on physical activity and the built environment.

OBJECTIVE: The importance of the built environment for physical activity has been recognized in recent decades, resulting in new research. This study aims to understand the current structure of physical activity and built environment (PABE) research and identify gaps to address as the field continues to rapidly develop. METHODS: Key PABE articles were nominated by top scholars and a snowball sample of 2764 articles was collected in 2013 using citation network links. Article abstracts were examined to determine research focus and network analysis was used to examine the evolution of scholarship. RESULTS: The network included 318 PABE articles. Of these, 191 were discovery-focused, examining the relationship between physical activity and built environment; 79 were reviews summarizing previous PABE work; 38 focused on theory and methods for studying PABE; six were delivery-focused, examining PABE interventions; and four addressed other topics. CONCLUSIONS: Network composition suggested that PABE is in the discovery phase, although may be transitioning given the large number and central position of review documents that summarize existing literature. The small amount of delivery research was not well integrated into the field. PABE delivery researchers may wish to make explicit connections to the discovery literature in order to better integrate the field.

Assessing citation networks for dissemination and implementation research frameworks.

BACKGROUND: A recent review of frameworks used in dissemination and implementation (D&I) science described 61 judged to be related either to dissemination, implementation, or both. The current use of these frameworks and their contributions to D&I science more broadly has yet to be reviewed. For these reasons, our objective was to determine the role of these frameworks in the development of D&I science. METHODS: We used the Web of Science™ Core Collection and Google Scholar™ to conduct a citation network analysis for the key frameworks described in a recent systematic review of D&I frameworks (Am J Prev Med 43(3):337-350, 2012). From January to August 2016, we collected framework data including title, reference, publication year, and citations per year and conducted descriptive and main path network analyses to identify those most important in holding the current citation network for D&I frameworks together. RESULTS: The source article contained 119 cited references, with 50 published articles and 11 documents identified as a primary framework reference. The average citations per year for the 61 frameworks reviewed ranged from 0.7 to 103.3 among articles published from 1985 to 2012. Citation rates from all frameworks are reported with citation network analyses for the framework review article and ten highly cited framework seed articles. The main path for the D&I framework citation network is presented. CONCLUSIONS: We examined citation rates and the main paths through the citation network to delineate the current landscape of D&I framework research, and opportunities for advancing framework development and use. Dissemination and implementation researchers and practitioners may consider frequency of framework citation and our network findings when planning implementation efforts to build upon this foundation and promote systematic advances in D&I science.

The meta-analytic big bang.

This article looks at the impact of meta-analysis and then explores why meta-analysis was developed at the time and by the scholars it did in the social sciences in the 1970s. For the first problem, impact, it examines the impact of meta-analysis using citation network analysis. The impact is seen in the sciences, arts and humanities, and on such contemporaneous developments as multilevel modeling, medical statistics, qualitative methods, program evaluation, and single-case design. Using a constrained snowball sample of citations, we highlight key articles that are either most highly cited or most central to the systematic review network. Then, the article examines why meta-analysis came to be in the 1970s in the social sciences through the work of Gene Glass, Robert Rosenthal, and Frank Schmidt, each of whom developed similar theories of meta-analysis at about the same time. The article ends by explaining how Simonton's chance configuration theory and Campbell's evolutionary epistemology can illuminate why meta-analysis occurred with these scholars when it did and not in medical sciences.

The impact of psychological trauma on wages in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the last three decades, armed conflict has increasingly been fought among civilian populations, resulting in greater physical and mental tolls. Soldiers returning from combat with psychological trauma are now receiving medical and policy attention for reintegration into the workforce. However, there is little attention on the impacts and options available to civilians who may face similar problems achieving labor force success after exposure to war-related trauma. Using the Bosnia and Herzegovina Living Standards Measurement Survey for years 2001-2004, we study wage attainment for 7659 respondents in relation to a series of psychological trauma measures which correspond to those used in PTSD diagnosis. In standard OLS regression, all subcomponents of PTSD have a negative impact; however, once unobserved individual heterogeneity is taken into account, some of the individual elements of psychological trauma have positive impacts on wage attainment. This is one of the first studies to find evidence of Posttraumatic Growth using information beyond psychometric instruments. The impact of the PTSD condition itself is insignificant in both models, and we do not find evidence of selection bias. We determine that the traditional means of predicting wages in labor economics are relevant in a post-conflict environment.

Mapping the multidisciplinary field of public health services and systems research.

CONTEXT: Public health services and systems research (PHSSR) is the field of study charged with evaluating the public health system. PHSSR currently lacks a clear identity integrating the many theories, approaches, and disciplines contributing to the field. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Experts in PHSSR were consulted to identify 11 key published PHSSR studies. With these articles as a starting point, a newly developed citation data collection system was used to collect a sample of 2986 documents connected to the key articles through citation linkages. Data were collected in October 2009. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Citation network methods and latent position cluster modeling were used to examine the network of documents. A subset of 108 documents comprising the backbone of the network was identified through main-path analysis. Four unique clusters were identified within the main path. The core cluster consisted of older articles focused on local health department activities, partnerships, and effectiveness. The three non-core clusters focused on public health law, behavioral interventions, and national performance standards. Although all non-core clusters cited the core, there was little crosstalk among the non-core clusters, a pattern consistent with multidisciplinary fields. CONCLUSIONS: PHSSR appears to be a multidisciplinary field with research happening in silos across different research areas. Developing transdisciplinary research connections across PHSSR is necessary to meet national PHSSR goals.