"This fourth edition incorporates a number of substantive new topics, including a new chapter on women's health, as well as opportunities for the reader to critically examine key conceptual and methodological issues within each chapter. It remains clearly written and highly accessible and still deserves its place as the number one choice of health psychology textbook." John Weinman, King?s College, London

The market leading textbook in the field, Health Psychology by Jane Ogden is essential reading for all students and researchers of health psychology. It will also be invaluable to students of medicine, nursing and allied health. Retaining the breadth of coverage, clarity and relevance that has made it a favourite with students and lecturers, this fourth edition has been thoroughly revised and updated.

New Features:

• New chapter on women's health issues, exploring recent research into pregnancy, miscarriage, birth, menopause and related areas
• New "Problems" boxes analyse health psychology research and identify the shortcomings and limitations of research in the area
• Updated "Focus on Research" examples introduce you to contemporary topics and emerging areas for research in health psychology, including exercise, smoking and pain.
• The new edition includes new data, graphs and further reading plus suggestions about where you can access the most recent publications and other data
• Revised end-of-chapter review questions Online Learning Centre: www.openup.co.uk/ogden. The OLC hosts web links and multiple choice questions for students, plus supporting teaching resources including teaching tips and PowerPoint presentations for lecturers.

ESSENTIAL READINGS IN HELATH PSYCHOLOGY

Essential Readings in Health Psychology is a new collection of key papers brought together for the first time in a single volume which complements Jane Ogden's bestselling textbook, Health Psychology.

The reader focuses on the key areas highlighted by the British Psychological Society as central to health psychology, providing an ideal resource for any undergraduate or postgraduate course in health psychology as well as for students of medicine, nursing and allied health.

The papers have been carefully selected from a range of prestigious international journals including American Psychologist, the British Medical Journal, Psychology and Health, Psychosomatic Medicine, Health Psychology and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Each of the twenty-nine papers employs different theories and methods which offer a different perspective from within one of five broad areas:

• The context of health psychology
• Health behaviours
• Health care
• Stress and health
• Chronic illness

The papers offer case examples of health psychology work that illustrate what health psychology research can (and cannot) achieve. They are framed by editorial discussions which will help students to understand the context, meaning and contribution of each paper to the discipline of Health Psychology as a whole. The complete papers are published, including their reference lists, so they can be used to develop reading lists and recommend further reading.