A collection of in-depth essays focused on the health issues facing the poorest populations in the United States as it relates to the common good of all Americans. Despite living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, far too many low-income and no-income men, women, and children in this nation are without health insurance or health care. More than half of those financially bereft have a serious health problem, with poor children three to five times more likely to experience chronic health issues than their more affluent peers. This set is a compilation of writings that address the complex problem of poverty and health across location and population. Through two informative volumes, the authors examine key issues including health care delivery, access, and disparities among various disenfranchised populations. Leading experts explore the reciprocal relationship between economic disadvantage and poor health, and ponder potential solutions to cope with these challenges.

Updated with the latest data in the field, Community and Public Health Nutrition, Fifth Edition explores the complex, multifaceted array of programs and services that exist in the United States today that are dedicated to bettering population and community health through improved nutrition. The Fifth Edition explores the subject by first considering how nutrition fits into public health practice and then by examining policymaking, assessment and intervention methods, special populations, food security, and program management.

The updated third edition of the definitive text on health social work Thoroughly revised and updated, the third edition of Handbook of Health Social Work is an authoritative text that offers a comprehensive review of the diverse field of health social work. With contributions from a panel of international experts in the field, the book is theory driven and solidly grounded in evidence-based practice. The contributors explore both the foundation of social work practice and offer guidance on effective strategies, policies, and program development. The text provides information that is essential to the operations of social workers in health care including the conceptual underpinnings and the development of the profession. The authors explore the practice issues such as theories of health behavior, assessment, communication and the intersections between health and mental health. The authors also examine a wide range of examples of social work practices including settings that involve older adults, nephrology, oncology, and chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, genetics, end of life care, pain management and palliative care, as well as alternative treatments, and traditional healers. This is the only handbook of its kind to unite the body of health social work and: • Offers a wellness, rather than psychopathological perspective and contains treatment models that are evidence-based • Includes learning exercises, further resources, research suggestions, and life-course information. • Contains new chapters on topics such as international health, insurance and payment systems, and implementation of evidence-based practice • Presents information on emerging topics such as health policy in an age of reform, and genomics and the social environment • Reviews new trends in social work and health care including genetics, trans-disciplinary care, and international, national, and state changes in policy Written for social work educators, administrators, students, and practitioners, the revised third edition of Handbook of Health Social Work offers in one volume the entire body of health social work knowledge.

This pioneering work addresses a key issue that confronts all industrialised nations: How do we organise healthcare services in accordance with fundamental human rights, whilst competing with scientific and technological advances, powerful commercial interests and widespread public ignorance? "The Nature of Health" presents a coherent, affordable and logical way to build a healthcare system. It argues against a health system fixated on the pursuit of longevity and suggests an alternative where the ability of an individual to function in worthwhile relationships is a better, more human goal. By reviewing the etymology, sociology and anthropology of health, this controversial guide examines the meaning of health, and proves how a community-centred healthcare system improves local economy, creates social capital and is affordable, rational, personal, and just. "This is badly needed nourishment for a medical system glutted on technology, individualism, profit and the pursuit of longevity. Read and be fed." - Christopher Koller, Health Insurance Commissioner, The State of Rhode Island, USA. "Unique. Surprising. A real eye-opener. Just about everyone who doesn't have a vested financial interest in maintaining the status quo will agree that U.S. healthcare is badly broken. [This book] is making it possible for us to refocus from how to provide healthcare to how to achieve health. Their description of health as successful functioning in community, rather than as a measure of longevity is a definition that can make a reader feel healthier as they take gradually appreciate the power of the concept. On this foundation, it is not as hard as one might think to outline a healthcare system that is equitable, affordable and achievable." - Alexander Blount EdD, Professor of Family Medicine, University of Massacusetts Medical Center.