This comprehensive book examines the organization, financing, delivery, and outcomes of behavioral health (i.e., alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health) services from both U.S. and global perspectives. Addressing the need for more integrative and collaborative approaches in public health and behavioral health initiatives, the book covers the fundamental issues in behavioral health, including epidemiology, insurance and financing, health inequities, implementation sciences, lifespan issues, cultural responsiveness, and policy.
Featuring insightful research from scholars in an interdisciplinary range of academic and professional fields, chapters fall into three distinct sections:
- Overview: Outlines the defining characteristics of behavioral health services and identifies significant challenges in the field
- At-Risk Populations: Explores critical issues for at-risk populations in need of behavioralhealth services, including children in school environments, youth in juvenile justice systems, and persons with developmental disabilities, among others
- Services Delivery: Presents a rationale for greater integration of health and behavioral health services, and contextualizes this explanation within global trends in behavioral health policy, systems, and services
An in-depth textbook for graduate students studying public health, behavioral health, social work policy, and medical sociology, as well as a useful reference for behavioral health professionals and policy makers, Foundations of Behavioral Health provides a global perspective for practice and policy in behavioral health. It promotes better understanding of the importance of integrating population health and behavioral health services, with an eye towards improving and sustaining public health and behavioral health from national, regional, and global perspectives.
Bruce Lubotsky Levin, DrPH, MPH, is Associate Professor & Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, Department of Child & Family Studies, University of South Florida (USF) College of Behavioral & Community Sciences. He is also Associate Professor & Head, Behavioral Health Concentration, USF College of Public Health. He is Co-PI & Director of Curriculum, USF Institute for Translational Research in Adolescent Drug Abuse (NIH-NIDA grant) for the past seven years. Dr. Levin is Co-Author and Senior Editor of nine other textbooks, including Introduction to Public Health for Pharmacists, Second Edition (Oxford University Press, 2018); Mental Health Informatics (Oxford University Press, 2013); Mental Health Services: A Public Health Perspective, Third Edition (Oxford University Press, 2010); and A Public Health Perspective of Women’s Mental Health (Springer, 2010). Dr. Levin’s research focus is the study of alcohol, drug abuse, & mental disorders from a public health or population perspective, translational research, behavioral health services research, and policy.
Ardis Hanson, PhD, MLIS, is the Assistant Director of Research and Education at the Shimberg Health Sciences Library at the University of South Florida. Dr. Hanson has over 25 years of experience as a research librarian and has published extensively in behavioral health services, policy, and research. Her research focus is on language and social interaction, that is, how language is used in everyday practice to negotiate claims and identities, particularly in how behavioral health policy is created.
