`This book was an absolute joy to read and offers a comprehensive review of health psychology.... This book should become a classic - necessary reading for students in all branches of health. Nursing students will find it invaluable, but other students - and their teachers - will also find it very useful. SAGE have added a valuable and important text to their already impressive list, and Marks can be complimented on his scholarly organisation of complex topics into an accessible and readable whole. No library should be without it and serious students should invest in a copy of their own′ - Health Matters



The Health Psychology Reader is designed to complement and support the recent textbook Health Psychology: Theory, Research and Practice by David F Marks, Michael Murray, Brian Evans and Carla Willig (SAGE, 2000). It can also be used as a stand-alone resource given its didactic nature. The Reader explores key topics within the health psychology field with incisive introductions to each section by the editor and includes a selection of the most important theoretical and empirical published work. The Reader is organized into the following parts:





Part 1: Health Psychology′s development, definition and context


Part 2: Theories in health psychology


Part 3: Health behaviour and experience


Part 4: Beliefs, explanations and communication


Part 5: Critical approaches to health psychology





In each of these areas the editor has written introductory sections which highlight the key issues, questions and problems. These are summarized in Boxes, which condense into a few words the essential features of each topic.





The Health Psychology Reader will be invaluable reading to all students in Health Psychology, either at undergraduate or postgraduate level.