The Health Psychology Handbook: Practical Issues for the Behavioral Medicine Specialist

"It is sure to be an invaluable resource to scientist-practitioners during the education and training process as well as to those continuing their professional development . . . with this Handbook, we have a great resource to facilitate what is ready for translation from research to practice now. Our patients can benefit from these services now and we need a well-trained health care workforce to meet these needs."

--From the Foreword by Cynthia D. Belar, Ph.D. ABPP

The Health Psychology Handbook: Practical Issues for the Behavioral Medicine Specialist is a comprehensive yet practical volume that consolidates information needed by health psychologists working alongside other healthcare professionals. It facilitates the progression of the learner from the classroom to the clinical setting by focusing on the translation of science to practice using concrete examples.

The Handbook is divided into four major parts. Part I highlights practical issues faced by health psychologists in a medical setting (how to motivate patients, consultation-liaison, assessment and screening, brief psychotherapies, ethical issues, etc.). Part II concentrates on treating unhealthy behaviors (alcohol and nicotine use, noncompliance, overeating/obesity, physical inactivity, stress). Part III considers behavioral aspects of medical problems (pain management, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, sexual dysfunction, HIV/AIDS, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia). And Part IV takes up special issues relevant to practice and research in the field (minority issues, women′s issues, working with geriatric populations, public health approaches to health psychology and behavioral medicine).

Besides considering health problems, the handbook also discusses professional issues, such as:

• Working with a multidisciplinary staff
• Conducting research
• Evaluating outcomes
• Practicing in public health settings

The Handbook will prove an invaluable resource for those already working in the field of health psychology as well as for those in training.

"The editors have developed an excellent sense of the needs of behavioral medicine practitioners . . . I found myself quite enthusiastic about the ability of the editors to conceptualize the problems of the practitioner and the ways to address them in this volume . . . The choice of authors is excellent."

--William Lovallo, University of Oklahoma & VA Medical Center 

"A handbook like this is a very valuable resource . . . The clinical focus is what is special about the Handbook."
--Lynn Kozlowski, Pennsylvania State University

Lee M. Cohen is Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Texas Tech University. He completed graduate training in clinical psychology at Oklahoma State University and was subsequently funded by NIH/NIDA, which led to a Postdoctoral Fellowship specializing in behavioral medicine at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. While there, he participated in collaborative research regarding adult and adolescent smoking cessation interventions and consulted to physicians in a primary care clinic setting to assist in management of patients’ medical problems with focus on prevention, education, and behavioral management of a number of health problems.

Dennis E. McChargue holds a joint appointment at the University of Illinois-Chicago as a Research Assistant Professor and at the Edwards Hines Jr. VA Hospital as a Health Research Scientist. His research examines biobehavioral factors associated with treatment of smokers with co-morbid psychopathology. His research on the influence of negative moods on nicotine-dependent individuals with a history of depression is funded by the NIH and Department of Veterans Affairs. He conducted two years of postdoctoral training at U.I.-Chicago focusing on pharmacological and behavioral treatment of nicotine-dependent people with co-morbid depression. He also completed an internship at the Boston University/Boston VAMC Consortium on treatment of substance abuse patients with co-morbid PTSD.

Frank L. Collins, Jr., is Professor/Director of Clinical Training at Oklahoma State University’s Clinical Psychology Program. He has held academic and clinical positions at Rush Medical College and West Virginia University. Over the years, he has provided behavioral medicine services for patients with cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, cancer, and neurological disorders. His current research focuses on behavioral economic theories of substance abuse, particularly studies of nicotine dependence.