Description
Book SynopsisSocial and Behavioral Science for Health Professionals examines various social and behavioral factors that affect health and illness, with a particular focus on how these phenomena inform clinical practice. The book introduces interdisciplinary insights from fields like sociology, psychology, and epidemiology to elucidate important and often problematic features of patient care routinely confronting physicians, nurses, and other allied health practitioners. Each chapter provides clear learning objectives and is organized around core concepts to facilitate clinicians' abilities to think in new and expanded ways about health and illness, as well as patient and professional interactions. The content explores the implications of a shifting epidemiological landscape; the critical roles of social factors as fundamental causes of health and disease; health disparities; the medicalization process and resulting changes in diagnostic patterns and expectations of practitioners; understandings of the illness experience of patients; interpersonal and interprofessional collaboration; clinical bioethics and the social psychology of ethical decision-making; and the significance of health system design and health policy. As a result, the book represents an important resource for improving patient care, particularly at a time when health is more intricately linked to social and behavioral conditions than ever before.
Table of ContentsPart I. Foundations of Social Science and Health Chapter 1. Introduction to Health and the Sociological Imagination Chapter 2. The Shifting Landscape of Health and Medicine: Past, Present, and Future Chapter3. The Logic and Methods of Empirical Research Part II.Social Epidemiology and Determinants of Health Chapter 4. Social Class and Health Chapter5. A Matrix of Health Inequalities Chapter 6. Health Behavior and Lifestyles Part III. Social Science in Clinical Practice Chapter 7.Power, Medicalization, and Clinical Practice Chapter 8. The Illness Experiences of Patients and Families Chapter 9. The Social Dynamics of Clinical Communication Chapter 10. Health Professions and Interprofessional Teamwork Chapter 11. Bioethics, Social Science, and Clinical Practice Part IV. Health Systems and Policy Chapter 12. Health Care Systems and Policy Chapter 13. Conclusion
