As part of work supported by the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), the Alzheimer’s Association, and Alzheimer’s Society (UK)—through their Pilot Awards for Global Brain Health Leaders—this symposium presents the results of a timely study and related research.

Need is often treated as objective and measurable in health and social care policy. However, need is arguably socially constructed and its meaning highly contested. Understanding the ways in which need is conceptualized and operationalized in policy, healthcare, and research is crucially important, as it can simultaneously legitimize certain needs while discounting others. In policy, how need is defined has direct implications for resource allocation, determining who can and cannot access care or services. 

Speakers

• Alli Fischman, Sociology Research Assistant, Bates College — Theoretical and empirical conceptualisations of 'need'
• Krista Harrison, Associate Professor, Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Atlantic Fellow, GBHI — Need in palliative care
• Irina Kinchin, Assistant Research Professor in Health Economics, Trinity College Dublin and Atlantic Fellow, GBHI — Need in caregiving
• Emily Adrion, Senior Lecturer, Global Health Policy, University of Edinburgh and Atlantic Fellow, GBHI — Need in home care