Definition, Objective and Benefit of Health Research
Health research is a step of scientific method oriented or focusing the activities on the problems that arise in the health field. Health itself consists of two principal sub-areas; the first is individual health oriented on clinical treatment. The second is sub-field oriented on group or community that is prevention. Furthermore, these sub health fields consist of various disciplines, such as medicine, nursing, epidemiology, health education, environmental health, health service management, nutrition etc. The sub-fields are interrelated and affect public health in general.
Health Research Objectives
In general, health research objectives according to Notoatmodjo (1993) are:
1. Finding or testing new facts or old facts with respect to the health field.
2. Conducting an analysis of the relationship among the facts found in the health field.
3. Explaining about the facts found and the relationship with existing theories.
4. Developing a new method or concept in the health services to improve public health.
Benefits of Health Research
In short, the benefits of health research are:
1. Research results can be used to describe the health state or status of individuals, groups or communities.
2. The results can be used to describe the ability of resources and the possibility of these resources in order to support the development of health services.
3. The results can be used as study materials to find the cause of health problems or failures in the health service. So, it can be used as a reference to find an alternative solution or problem solving.
4. The results of health research can be used as a means to formulate policy of health care development.
