Advances in Health Psychology: Critical Approaches

Description

Why did critical health psychology emerge? How have categories of social class and gender impacted on social identities? Where can health policy go from here, and how will health psychology inform its development? With contributions from leading experts in the field, this book deepens our understanding of health psychology at a time where traditional approaches are being rethought. Covering contemporary issues and with a focus on both mainstream and non-traditional areas, including material on social identities and social class, gender, and leadership in the NHS, the book provides cutting edge coverage of theory and research. Crucially, the book considers how theory impacts on practice and how health psychology can ignite change in health policy. Covering important issues with clear and fresh insight, this is indispensable reading for students, researchers and practitioners of health psychology, health studies and public health.

CHRISTINE HORROCKS is Professor of Applied Social Psychology and Head of the Department of Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. SALLY JOHNSON is Lecturer at the University of Bradford, UK, and a Health Psychologist. She leads the Applied Health and Social Psychology Group based in the Division of Psychology.

'This is a strong contribution to the developing field of critical health psychology, and will advance the way that health psychology is understood and practiced. Going well beyond critiques of the field, it highlights how health psychology can (and should) move from theory and research into critical practice and action that offers real possibilities for sustaining and improving health. This text offers valuable reading for health psychologists and other researchers and practitioners in the field of health seeking to understand how critical perspectives can make a tangible difference for health.' - Kerry Chamberlain, Professor of Health Psychology, Massey University, New Zealand