When a person faces serious illness, having the support of one's partner can help protect against the full ravages of disease, and even hasten recovery. However, too much support can have grave clinical consequences for sufferers and exact a heavy emotional and financial toll on caregivers. Social Support, Health, and Illness is an up-to-date analysis of how social support can either help or hinder recovery for patients. A useful resource for clinical practitioners and researchers, Social Support, Health, and Illness addresses the effects of intimate support on a wide variety of medical and psychiatric conditions, including cancer, dementia, and chronic pain. Ranjan Roy uncovers the complexities underlying social support by tracing the concept's historical and theoretical development. Synthesizing insights from the latest research findings, Social Support, Health, and Illness offers a comprehensive look at the modifying and mitigating factors of intimacy on the outcomes of disease.

Health, Illness, and Optimal Aging: Biological and Psychosocial Perspectives, Third Edition shows the continuity and advancements in our understanding of human life-span development... It offers a solid foundation for exploring the art and science of successful aging.- Robert M. Kaplan, Stanford University

In this groundbreaking work, distinguished contributors explore the myriad relationships between networks of social support and the development, treatment, and rehabilitation of individuals with cardiovascular disease. Chapters span the range from conceptual to methodological issues, and take into account gender, environmental, and cultural differences. The book will provide a wealth of information for clinicians and students in the fields of behavioral medicine, psychophysiology, and cardiovascular disease.

FROM THE FOREWORD by James Birren: "Gaining understanding of aging is one of the most complex issues facing twenty-first century science. This book addresses the complexity of the factors that interact and influence the course of our longer life expectancy....How we humans grow old is a product of our genetic background as members of a species and our families. But the genome expresses itself in physical and social environments that modulate the appearance of heredity traits. In a sense aging is an ecological problem in which the dynamics are often difficult to explain....This book brings information from the sciences together in a way that is rarely done.....It provides an integration of knowledge about the dynamics of aging and can promote wisdom about how we can modify the life course to our advantage." In Health, Illness, and Optimal Aging: Biological and Psychosocial Perspectives, Carolyn M. Aldwin and Diane F. Gilmer undertake the challenging task of assembling an objective and holistic picture of human aging. The authors provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary coverage of the physical aspects of aging, including age-related changes and disease-related processes, the demography of the aging population, theories of aging, and the promotion of optimal aging. In addition, the book covers the psychosocial aspects of aging, including mental health, stress and coping, spirituality, and care giving in later years. Features of this book: Integrated. Discusses both the biological aspects and psychosocial factors of aging, thus providing integrated coverage of information from the fields of biology, psychology, and the social sciences. Discusses both the biological aspects and psychosocial factors of aging, thus providing integrated coverage of information from the fields of biology, psychology, and the social sciences. Comprehensive. Covers every part of the aging process including the physical effect on the different systems of the human body, quality of life, social support, and health promotion programs. Covers every part of the aging process including the physical effect on the different systems of the human body, quality of life, social support, and health promotion programs. Pedagogical. Examples in each chapter enhance students′ understanding of real-life situations, and methodological issues help students become more critical consumers of research and data.Examples in each chapter enhance students′ understanding of real-life situations, and methodological issues help students become more critical consumers of research and data. Discusses both the biological aspects and psychosocial factors of aging, thus providing integrated coverage of information from the fields of biology, psychology, and the social sciences. Covers every part of the aging process including the physical effect on the different systems of the human body, quality of life, social support, and health promotion programs. Examples in each chapter enhance students′ understanding of real-life situations, and methodological issues help students become more critical consumers of research and data. Discusses both the biological aspects and psychosocial factors of aging, thus providing integrated coverage of information from the fields of biology, psychology, and the social sciences. Covers every part of the aging process including the physical effect on the different systems of the human body, quality of life, social support, and health promotion programs. Examples in each chapter enhance students′ understanding of real-life situations, and methodological issues help students become more critical consumers of research and data. Discusses both the biological aspects and psychosocial factors of aging, thus providing integrated coverage of information from the fields of biology, psychology, and the social sciences. Covers every part of the aging process including the physical effect on the different systems of the human body, quality of life, social support, and health promotion programs. Examples in each chapter enhance students′ understanding of real-life situations, and methodological issues help students become more critical consumers of research and data. Health, Illness and Optimal Aging is recommended for researchers seeking an overview of health psychology and aging, as well as undergraduate and graduate students taking classes in the social, behavioral, and health sciences. This text is also valuable for practitioners working with the elderly in fields such as nursing, social work, occupational and physical therapy, day-care and nursing home administration, psychology, and rehabilitation.

This title provides a systematic and accessible introduction to medical sociology, beginning each 1500 word entry with a definition of the concept, then examines its origins, development, strengths and weaknesses, offering further reading guidance for independent learning, and drawing on international literature and examples.

Health psychology is a rapidly expanding discipline at the interface of psychology and clinical medicine. This new edition is fully reworked and revised, offering an entirely up-to-date, comprehensive, accessible, one-stop resource for clinical psychologists, mental health professionals and specialists in health-related matters. There are two new editors: Susan Ayers from the University of Sussex and Kenneth Wallston from Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The prestigious editorial team and their international, interdisciplinary cast of authors have reconceptualised their much-acclaimed handbook. The book is now in two parts: part I covers psychological aspects of health and illness, assessments, interventions and healthcare practice. Part II covers medical matters listed in alphabetical order. Among the many new topics added are: diet and health, ethnicity and health, clinical interviewing, mood assessment, communicating risk, medical interviewing, diagnostic procedures, organ donation, IVF, MMR, HRT, sleep disorders, skin disorders, depression and anxiety disorders.

Annotation This book addresses one major question: Why do men get more heart disease than women? Recent global trends in heart disease show that traditional coronary risk factors, such as elevated blood pressure and cholesterol are poor candidates in explaining the gender gap in heart disease. Changes in these risk factors also cannot explain the recent cardiovascular disease epidemic among middle-aged men in Eastern Europe. This book will focus on environmental, behavioral, and psychosocial variables, as well as new risk factors of a biological nature in an attempt to understand the gender gap in heart disease. It combines perspectives from numerous disciplines, such as demography, epidemiology, medicine, sociology, and psychology. This book features the work of a distinguished group of international researchers appearing in Richard Stone's report on "Stress: the invisible hand in Eastern Europe's death rates" (Science, vol. 288, June 9, 2000, pp. 1732-33). It combines perspectives from numerous disciplines, such as demography, epidemiology, medicine, nutrition, sociology, and psychology to explore the environmental, behavioral, and psychosocial influences on men's greater susceptibility to heart disease

This groundbreaking text is the most complete and detailed book devoted to middle-range theories and their applications in clinical nursing research. The book thoroughly explains the process of selecting an appropriate theory for a particular nursing research study and sets forth criteria for critiquing theories. Each chapter includes examples of research using middle-range theories, definitions of key terms, analysis exercises, reference lists, and relevant Websites. Instruments are presented in appendices. New features of this edition include analysis questions for all theories; new chapters on learning theory and physiologic middle-range theories; "Part" introductions to frame the selection process for each middle-range theory chosen; and a glossary of terms.

Public health researchers and clinicians regularly work with people who have suffered physical and mental trauma. Knowing how to conduct a study or treat a patient while navigating deep emotional issues requires special skills and overall awareness of how trauma can impact the process and outcomes of participating in research and/or receiving health care. This book presents a diverse array of case examples from scholars of health-related topics, focusing on biographical narrative as a window into understanding key needs in trauma informed scholarship and medicine. Exploring stories from people of varied backgrounds, experiences, and contexts can help professionals within and beyond the academic research and clinical care spheres create rewarding experiences for patients. Negotiating the Emotional Challenges of Conducting Deeply Personal Research in Health will be of interest to public health practitioners, educators and researchers as well as students.