Article archive / October 1, 2012
Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 2. Source pages: 11, 12.
Health Psychology: An Introduction to Behavior and Health, is a well- written, authoritative, yet pleasantly user-friendly book about one of the most important areas of psychology today.
The authors, McNeese professors Dr. Linda Brannon and Dr. Jeff Feist have been in for the long haul–this review is for the seventh edition. It has been 20 some odd years since they started looking at health psychology and capturing the diverse and complex interactions that support factual and evidenced-based conclusions impacting health and longevity.
Authors do an excellent job staying up with this fast-moving field and the challenges of rapid and sometimes perplexing shifts in the landscape of research about health and behavior.
The authors meet the challenge easily. Health Psychology is a comprehensive and detailed review. Brannon and Feist integrate a very large amount of information both within psychology and between psychology and biology, physiology, and biochemistry.
But the authors also are able to keep the reader engaged and attentive by employing teaching devices such as self-checks, intriguing questions, surprising facts, exercises, special features and personal profiles. Also included are web-based resources such as additional readings and self-testing Q & A.
One of the most entertaining features is the “Would You Believe …?” box that surprises with unusual research facts about health, unraveling the readers’ preconceived notions.
Brannon and Feish have cocooned difficult subjects of theoretical and scholarly evidence to ease the important topics into place for the student reader. They provide a hopeful and empowering message that should be standard fair for not just psychology students, but all students.
In the modern world with skyrocketing health costs and increasing health problems, this topic could easily be as, or more important than general psychology subjects. For this reason, the text might be considered motivational and psychoeducational. It would seem that all students would benefit from accurate, evidence-based knowledge in this area.
Dr. Brannon addressed this idea with the Times. “I believe that the text is used mostly in psychology departments in health psychology courses. There are a growing number of such courses, which probably reflects the same sentiment that you have—it is an increasingly important topic.”
Health Psychology authors keep the reader up with advances, such as alternative and complementary medicine, and the eighth edition is coming out next year, Dr. Brannon explained.
The text is divided into four parts and 16 chapters, beginning with “Foundations of Health Psychology” and Chapter 1, “Introducing Health Psychology.” Brannon and Feist provide overview of statistics, trends, and paradoxes in health for this introductory chapter. They point out the shift between death due to infectious disease and death related to unhealthy life styles, noting the changes toward the end of the 20th century, with also shifts in the reverse.
They look at ethnicity, income, and some unusual patterns in health and illness, and also which causes of death rank highest in each ethnic group.
They highlight the escalating cost of medical care, much greater than inflation, and that this is in part related to longer life expectancy. But they note that 45 percent of the people in the US have a chronic condition and this group creates 78 percent of the health costs.
In this introductory section, the authors look at models for health, starting with the biomedical and traditional view, and describe how another model, the biopsychosocial model has evolved to address the problems that the traditional approach fails to solve.
Authors give a clear, cogent, and guiding definition of the field of health psychology. “… the application of psychological principles to physical health areas such as controlling cholesterol, managing stress, alleviating pain, stopping smoking, and moderating other risky behaviors, as well as encouraging regular exercise, medical and dental checkups, and safer behaviors.” “In addition, health psychology helps identify conditions that affect health, diagnose and treat certain chronic diseases, and modify the behavioral factors involved in physiological and psychological rehabilitation.”
In Chapter 2, authors look at “Conducting Health Research,” and review the placebo effect and asking, “Would you believe …? Providing Ineffective Treatment May Be Considered Ethical.” They review research methods in psychology and epidemiology, as well as observational methods, randomized trials, and natural experiments. A section on the “risk factor approach” is provided.
Chapter 3 is “Seeking Health Care.” In this section authors examine health protective behaviors, illness behavior and the “sick role.” They surprise the reader with a, “Would you believe …” box showing that hospitals are a leading cause of death.
In Chapter 4, “Adhering to Medical Advice,”authors review the theories applicable to people adhering to medical advice. They look at behavioral theory, self-efficacy theory, reasoned and planned behavior, and the “Transtheoretical Model.” They also review how adherence is measured and factors help predict when patients will adhere or not to advice.
Part 2 is “Stress, Pain, and Coping,” and begins with Chapter 5, “Defining, Measuring, and Managing Stress.” In this section authors review theories, measurement, and sources of stress, and ways that people cope with stress.
This is followed by Chapter 6, “Understanding Stress and Disease,” A review of the physiology of the immune system and psychoneuroimmunology, history and mechanisms are covered. Authors also examine the research about stress and disease, and the “Diathesis-Stress Model.”
The reader is given a chance to test his or her own stress level and authors include a list of stress scales, including the Daily Stress Inventory authored by Pennington’s Dr. Phillip Brantley, Sheryl Catz, and Edwin Boudreaux. And also listed is the Weekly Stress Inventory, by Drs. Brantley, Glenn Jones, and Boudreaux.
In Chapter 7, “Understanding and Managing Pain,” authors provide a comprenhensive look at pain, the somatosensory systems, neurotransmitters, and how pain is measured. Headache, low back, arthritis, cancer pain, and phantom limb pain are described. The chapter concludes with managing pain, both medical and behavioral techniques.
Chapter 8 is “Considering Alternative Approaches,” and provides an overview of practices and systems that fall outside of traditional approaches, and also outside of the biopsychosocial model. They include Ayurvedia Medicine, Chinese Medicine, Naturopathy, and Homeopathy. Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is described along with information about the US agency that helps to provide information and research for these approaches. The authors also provide a section on “Alternative Practices” including chiropractic, massage, energy healing, meditation and yoga, biofeedback and hypnosis.
Part 3, “Behavior and Chronic Disease,” begins with Chapter 9, “Behavioral Factors in Cardiovascular Disease.” A review of the cardiovascular system and the changing rates of cardiovascular disease is explained, aloing with specific reasons for the decline in death rates. Authors outline risk factors, behavioral factors, psychological factors, with a focus on prevention and rehabilitation.
In Chapter 10, “Behavioral Factors in Cancer,” authors look at the increasing death rates of some cancers and the increasing incidence and death rates in others. They examine the evidence regarding risk factors beyond the individual’s control and environmental risks. Then they look at behavioral risks of smoking, diet, alcohol, sedentary lifestyle, ultraviolet light exposure, sexual behavior, and psychosocial risk factors. And authors conclude this chapter with a section on “Living With Cancer.”
“Living With Chronic Illness” follows and chronic diseases of Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, Asthma, HIV/AIDs, and a section on death, adjusting to terminal illness and grieving.
Part 4 is “Behavioral Health,” and provides a useful set of chapters on models, theory, research, and applied recommendations for behaviors related to health.
Included is Chapter 12 on “Smoking Tobacco,” and Chapter 13, “Using Alcohol and Other Drugs,” which includes information on motivations, health consequences, and interventions.
In Chapter 14, “Eating and Weight,” authors look at starvation and overeating, and why some people are obese. A “Would You Believe …? You May Need a Nap Rather Than A Diet,” addresses new findings about weight and biochemistry. Authors examine issues regarding the question: is dieting is a good choice. Then they look at clinical conditions of eating disorders.
Chapter 15 is “Exercising.” The research on physical activity and cardiovascular, protection against caner, control of diabetes, psychological benefits, as well as exercise additions and injuries, is examined, with supporting evidence and applications.
In Part 5, “Looking Toward the Future,” and Chapter 16, “Future Challenges,” the authors define the goal of increasing the span of healthy life, and point to the leading indicators of physical activity, obesity, tobacco use, substance abuse, sexual behavior, mental health, injury and violence, environmental quality, immunization and access to health care. Taking on the very big picture, they look at progress in health psychology, the changes needed nationally. In a section, “Making Health Psychology Personal,” they help the reader understand and change his or her risks through awareness and lifestyle.
I’m going to go swim now.
Dr. Jess Feist (L) and Dr. Linda Brannon, authors of Health Psychology. (Courtesy photo.)
Rocketing health costs. Health Psychology is full of graphs like this one to punctuate ideas. (Source is the National Center for Health Statistics. Graph by Times staff.)
Louisiana’s health rankings on some indicators. (Courtesy of America’s Health Rankings, United Health Foundation.)
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.