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Health Promotion Throughout the Life Span Edited by Edelman CL and Mandle CL. Seventh Edition. Mosby Elsevier: St Louis Ml; 2010. Paperback, 720 pages with index. RRP $76.95 ISBN- 9 78-0-323-05 662-5
This text book, currently in its 7th edition, brings together contributions from a collective of nursing educators in nine American states. The United States provides the book's audience and the bulk of the material. The content is clearly linked to recent US health policy documents, although health environments worldwide are recognised as important contributors to the health of individuals in America. The book is pitched to undergraduate clinical nursing students and additional resources for students and instructors are noted at the beginning of each chapter via a link to the publisher's expanded website.
The book's "individual health determinants" orientation to health promotion is clear from the outset. The preface declares that public concern about physical fitness, good nutrition and avoidance of health hazards such as smoking, all key to improving health, are "ingrained in the American lifestyle". The 10 important categories identified as important determinants of health status, including family relationships, risk management and coping, all describe individual behaviours over which individuals...