posted on 2019-08-09, 13:03authored byJ Badham, E Chattoe-Brown, N Gilbert, Z Chalabi, F Kee, RF Hunter
Managing non-communicable diseases requires policy makers to adopt a whole systems perspective that adequately represents the complex causal architecture of human behaviour. Agent-based modelling is a computational method to understand the behaviour of complex systems by simulating the actions of entities within the system, including the way these individuals influence and are influenced by their physical and social environment. The potential benefits of this method have led to several calls for greater use in public health research. We discuss three challenges facing potential modellers: model specification, obtaining required data, and developing good practices. We also present steps to assist researchers to meet these challenges and implement their agent-based model.
Funding
This work was undertaken under the auspices of the UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health Research Northern Ireland, which is funded by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Wellcome Trust (MC CF023241). Ruth Hunter is supported by a Career Development Fellowship from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR, CDF-2014-07-020) and acknowledges funding support from the HSC Research and Development Division. Nigel Gilbert's contribution was partially funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ES/N007786/1), NERC, DEFRA, the Environment Agency and the Food Standards Agency as part of the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN). Zaid Chalabi's contribution was partially based on work initiated as part of the "Changing Commutes?" project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Reference: ES/K004549/1).
History
Citation
Health Place, 2018, 54, pp. 170-177
Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, ARTS AND HUMANITIES/Department of Media, Communication and Sociology