Health Psychology: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Health

Health Psychology: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Health

<P style="MARGIN: 0px" align=left text-align="left"> <I>Health Psychology: An Interdisciplinary Approach</I> offers a critical examination of the biopsychosocial model of health and proposes the use of the ecological model as a more comprehensive explanation of health outcomes; both of which are unique approaches in a health psychology text.   </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px" align=left text-align="left"> </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px" align=left text-align="left">The ecological model explores the impact of five systems on individual health outcomes: the individual (including physiology), the family/community, physical and social environments, healthcare systems and health policy.  Unlike the biopsychological model  which represents a combination of three fields—biology, psychology and sociology -  the ecological model  includes research and findings from medical anthropology, economics, ethnopharmacology, environmental studies, medicine and public health, in addition to biology, psychology and sociology. Thus, it offers a truly interdisciplinary approach to the study of health.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px" align=left text-align="left"> </P>Finally, the text uniquely examines infectious diseases and chronic illnesses from a local, regional and global perspective. The diverse perspectives illustrate the roles of each of the five systems on health.