The Handbook of Health Behavior Change

Book excerpt: This revised and updated fifth edition of the highly acclaimed “gold standard” textbook continues to provide a foundational review of health behavior change theories, research methodologies, and intervention strategies across a range of populations, age groups, and health conditions. It examines numerous, complex, and often co-occurring factors that can both positively and negatively influence people’s ability to change behaviors to enhance their health including intrapersonal, interpersonal, sociocultural, environmental, systems, and policy factors, in the context of leading theoretical frameworks. Beyond understanding predictors and barriers to achieving meaningful health behavior change, the Handbook provides an updated review of the evidence base for novel and well-supported behavioral interventions and offers recommendations for future research. New content includes chapters on Sun Protection, Interventions With the Family System, and the Role of Technology in Behavior Change. Throughout the textbook, updated reviews emphasize mobile health technologies and electronic health data capture and transmission and a focus on implementation science. And the fifth edition, like the previous edition, provides learning objectives to facilitate use by course instructors in health psychology, behavioral medicine, and public health. The Handbook of Health Behavior Change, Fifth Edition, is a valuable resource for students at the graduate and advanced undergraduate level in the fields of public or population health, medicine, behavioral science, health communications, medical sociology and anthropology, preventive medicine, and health psychology. It also is a great reference for clinical investigators, behavioral and social scientists, and healthcare practitioners who grapple with the challenges of supporting individuals, families, and systems when trying to make impactful health behavior change. NEW TO THE FIFTH EDITION: Revised and updated to encompass the most current research and empirical evidence in health behavior change Includes new chapters on Sun Protection, Interventions With the Family System, and the Role of Technology in Behavior Change Increased focus on innovations in technology in relation to health behavior change research and interventions KEY FEATURES: The most comprehensive review of behavior change interventions Provides practical, empirically based information and tools for behavior change Focuses on robust behavior theories, multiple contexts of health behaviors, and the role of technology in health behavior change Applicable to a wide variety of courses including public health, behavior change, preventive medicine, and health psychology Organized to facilitate curriculum development and includes tools to assist course instructors, including learning objectives for each chapter