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Comprehensive Handbook of Clinical Health Psychology, by Bret A. Boyer and M. Indira Paharia (Editors). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007, 482 pages (ISBN 978-0-471-78386-2, CA$137.99, Hardcover)
Reviewed by MATTHEW BAILLY
DOI: 10.1037/a0015601
The editors describe this book as an introduction to the nowestablished field of health psychology, primarily aimed at graduate students, but potentially useful for established professionals, in providing an overview of health conditions and psychological interventions related to practise of this subspecialty. In this regard, they have succeeded in doing just that, by providing a strong underpinning in theory and building on this with chapters outlining research and practise with a number of pertinent diseases. The book is divided into four sections, beginning with a description of theoretical models and issues pertaining to insurance and managed care, and moving into chronic disease prevention and diseases commonly addressed by the discipline. The volume concludes with chapters on areas of special interest.
The first chapter of Part 1 provides a brief history of health psychology, followed by a review of biopsychosocial theory and models outlining the integration of psychological and medical treatments. A description of the Model for Integrating Medicine and Psychology (MI-MAP) seemed particularly useful for introducing students in either field to basic principles of integrative work, and may also be useful for established professionals entering these clinical settings. In fact, a more detailed description of this model could have been worthy of its own chapter. The chapter concludes with basic definitions of disease and regimen factors, individual factors, and common comorbid psychological conditions, a structure that mirrors that of later chapters focusing on specific disease conditions. In Chapter 2, issues pertaining to insurance and managed care are discussed. However,...