Handbook of Behavioral Medicine Research: Methods and Applications [Hardback]

Behavioral medicine emerged in the 1970s as the interdisciplinary field concerned with the integration of behavioral, psychosocial, and biomedical science knowledge relevant to the understanding of health and illness, and the application of this knowledge to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.  Recent years have witnessed an enormous diversification of behavioral medicine, with new sciences (such as genetics, life course epidemiology) and new technologies (such as neuroimaging) coming into play. This book brings together such new developments by providing an up-to-date compendium of methods and applications drawn from the broad range of behavioral medicine research and practice. The book is divided into 10 sections that address key fields in behavioral medicine. Each section begins with one or two methodological or conceptual chapters, followed by contributions that address substantive topics within that field. Major health problems such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, HIV/AIDs, and obesity are explored from multiple perspectives. The aim is to present behavioral medicine as an integrative discipline, involving diverse methodologies and paradigms that converge on health and well being.

Andrew Steptoe is professor of psychology in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. He has worked in behavioral medicine throughout his professional life and is a Past-President of both the International Society of Behavioral Medicine and the Society for Psychosomatic Research. He is a member of Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research and Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. He was founding co-editor of the British Journal of Health Psychology. He is author and editor of 16 books including Health Care and Human Behaviour (1984), Stress, Personal Control and Health (1989), Psychosocial Processes and Health (1994) and Depression and Physical Illness (2006). He has published more than 400 journal articles and book chapters.

Section 1: Health behaviors: processes and measures.- Social and environmental determinants of health behaviors.- Cognitive determinants of health behavior.- Assessment of physical activity in research and clinical practice.- Dietary assessment in behavioral medicine.-Assessment of sexual behavior.- By force of habit.- Adherence to medical advice: processes and measurement.- Section 2: Psychological processes and measures.- Ecological validity for patient reported outcomes.- Item response theory and its application to measurement in behavioral medicine.- Applications of neurocognitive assessment in behavioral medicine.- Lay representations of illness and treatment: A framework for action.- Conceptualization, measurement, and analysis of negative affective risk factors.- Hostility and health.- Positive well-being and health.- Coping and health.- Section 3: Social and interpersonal processes.- Experimental approaches to social interaction for the behavioral medicine toolbox.- Social support and physical health: links and mechanisms.- Social networks and health.- Social norms and health behavior.- Social marketing: A tale of beer, marriage and public health.- Section 4: Epidemiological and population perspectives.- Assessment of psychosocial factors in population studies.- Socio-economic position and health.- Race, ethnicity, and health in a global context.- Neighborhood factors in health.- Health literacy: a brief introduction.- Screening and early detection of cancer: a population perspective.- Impact of behavioral interventions in public health.- Section 5: Genetic process in behavioral medicine.- Quantitative genetics in behavioral medicine.- Candidate genes and genome-wide association studies in behavioral medicine.- Functional genomic approaches in behavioral medicine research.- Genetics of stress: gene-stress correlation and interaction.- Nicotine dependence and pharmacogenetics.- Genetics of obesity and diabetes.- Section 6: Development and the life course.- A life course approach to health behaviors: theory and methods.- Perinatal origins of development health.- The impact of early adversity on health.- Health disparities in adolescence.- Reproductive hormones and stages of life in women: Moderators of mood and cardiovascular health.- Aging and behavioral medicine.- Section 7: Biological measures and biomarkers.- Use of biological measures in behavioral medicine.- Laboratory stress testing methodology.- Stress and allostasis.- Neuroendocrine measures in behavioral medicine.- Immune measures in behavioral medicine research: Procedures and implications.- Circulating biomarkers of inflammation, adhesion, and hemostasis in behavioral medicine.- The metabolic syndrome, obesity, and insulin resistance.- The non-invasive assessment of autonomic influences on the heart using impedance cardiography and heart rate variability.- Cardiac measures.- Behavioral medicine and sleep: concepts, measures and methods.- Section 8: Brain function and neuroimaging.- Neuroimaging methods in behavioral medicine.- Applications of neuroimaging in behavioral medicine.- Neuroimaging of depression and other emotional states.- The electric brain and behavioral medicine.- Section 9: Statistical methods.- Reporting results in behavioral medicine.- Moderators and mediators: The MacArthur updated view .- Multilevel modeling.- Structural equation modeling in behavioral medicine research.- Meta-analysis.- Section 10: Behavioral and psychosocial interventions.- Trial design in behavioral medicine.- Methodological issues in randomized controlled trials for the treatment of psychiatric comorbidity in medical illness.- Quality of life in light of appraisal and response shift.- Behavioral interventions for prevention and management of chronic disease.- Psychosocial-behavioral interventions and chronic disease.- The role of interactive communications technologies in behavioral medicine.- Behavioral medicine, prevention and health reform: Linking evidence-based