Health Psychology: A Textbook

Thoroughly revised to reflect recent research, theory and practice in health psychology, this market bestseller includes new coverage of topical issues such as behaviour change strategies, health inequalities, exercise dependence, caffeine use and mens health.

Now organized into five sections, the book follows a health-illness continuum model, covering theory and research related to the context of health, health beliefs and behaviours, becoming ill and being ill, with the final section describing how students can learn to think more critically about all aspects of health psychology. The new edition also includes five new chapters::

• Health inequalities – depicts health variation by gender, social class and geography and describes possible explanations for this

• Health promotion – describes a wide range of theories and strategies used to change behaviour including CBT, motivational interviewing, relapse prevention, fear appeals and the use of technology

• Health access – examines patient contact with health professionals, with a focus on help seeking behaviour (and delay), screening, communication and adherence

• Mens health – explores gender differences in life expectancy and causes of mortality, mens health related behaviours, their health beliefs, social norms of masculinity and emotional expression

• Being critical – offers a detailed analysis of how to be more critical, with a focus on thinking about theory, constructs, methodology and measurement

Many brand new examples are introduced, covering:: post traumatic stress symptoms, exercise and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, post traumatic growth and benefit finding, measurement issues for adherence, eating, exercise, social support and coping, visualization and illness cognitions and the response shift.

Health Psychology, 5th edition is essential reading for all students and researchers of health psychology. It will also be invaluable to students of medicine, nursing and allied health.

“Jane Ogden writes in an uncomplicated manner but without doing injustice to the complexities of the theories and research being described.”
Roger Ingham, Professor of Health and Community Psychology, University of Southampton, UK

“Students are provided with clear, up-to-date and accessible information on the major theoretical and empirical issues in health psychology. There are five new chapters and the one on health promotion is particularly impressive.”
Ad A. Kaptein, Professor of Medical Psychology, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands