An Introduction to Quantitative Methods Especially Relevant for Public Mental Health

This chapter provides a brief introduction to some of the epidemiologic and statistical methods for and challenges to gathering and analyzing the data that underlie the research presented in this volume and in the field of public mental health as a whole. It focuses on some of the data and methodological complexities particularly common in public mental health research. It explores three fundamental types of questions relevant to public mental health: estimating rates of disorders in a population across people, place, and time; examining risk and protective factors associated with particular disorders; and exploring interventions to prevent disorders or to treat them once they emerge.