"Jane Ogden's Health Psychology is a smart and readable textbook that should appeal to both instructors and students of health psychology. Its overall structure is intuitively appealing and progresses from health beliefs to factors associated with becoming ill to the actual state of being ill. New to this edition is a wonderful chapter on the demographics of health and health behaviours. Using a number of striking graphs, Ogden highlights the disparities in health by geography, social class, and gender. The book's greatest appeal, however, is its focus on the major ideas in health psychology. The reader is not bombarded with subtleties of dozens of studies; rather the broader theories are emphasized. Whether you come to health psychology with a background in social, clinical, physiological, or other specialization, you will find this to be a compelling book.?

James W. Pennebaker, Regents Centennial Professor of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, USA

"This 5th edition of Health Psychology represents an even more attractive book than the previous editions. The new figures and images illustrate the text and students are provided with clear, up-to-date and accessible information on the major theoretical and empirical issues in health psychology. There are four new chapters and the one on health promotion is particularly impressive. The book now seems suited not only to health psychology students but also for those in allied professions such as physiotherapists, nurses, dieticians, physicians and medical students."


Ad A. Kaptein, Professor of Medical Psychology, Leiden University Medical Centre, the Netherlands

"This thought-provoking book is in tune with students' questions about health psychology and places the student at the centre of knowledge dissemination."

Dr Catherine Sykes, Team Leader in Health Psychology, City University, London

"Jane Ogden manages to write in an uncomplicated manner but without doing injustice to the complexities of the theories and research being described. She provides good historical and societal contexts for the different strands of research, so students can appreciate the relevance of Health Psychology in and for the real world."

Roger Ingham, Professor of Health and Community Psychology, University of Southampton

"Jane Ogden's Health Psychology is an impressive introduction to the field. The book is suitable for students of all backgrounds wishing to gain a comprehensive introduction to the exciting field of health psychology. The chapters are clearly organized and integrate the latest international research findings into an easy to read and well illustrated textbook."


Keith J Petrie, Professor of Health Psychology, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland

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 men?s health.

Now organized into five sections, the book follows a health-illness continuum model, covering theory and research relating 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
  
• Men?s health - explores gender differences in life expectancy and causes of mortality, men?s 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.

An Online Learning Centre website www.openup.co.uk/ogden accompanies this edition with useful materials for students of health psychology and their lecturers, including PowerPoint presentations, artwork and a new Testbank.