Bridges the gap between psychology and medicine using the widely adopted biopsychosocial model, which posits that biological psychological and social factors all play a significant role in healthy human functioning.

Boyer and Paharia (health psychology and clinical psychology, Widener U.), both licensed clinical psychologists, provide a resource for all health care professionals on clinical health psychology strategies. They compile 18 chapters that focus on prevalent conditions and trends in health psychology and outline the application of a biopsychosocial model (the Model for Integrating Medicine and Psychology), applying it in each of the chapters on common medical states--cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, spinal cord injury, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, end-stage renal disease, and inflammatory bowel disease and liver disease--and special topics such as chronic pain, pediatric psychology, and sexual and reproductive health. Chapters on insurance and managed care issues, chronic disease prevention, and substance abuse are included. Contributors are psychologists, nephrologists, researchers, and other specialists from the US. The book is meant for graduate students, practitioners, or for courses in health psychology, behavioral medicine, adjustment to chronic health conditions, disease prevention, and others. Both author and subject indexes are provided. Annotation 2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)