Synopses & Reviews
Incorporating material from medical sociology, health psychology, and medical anthropology, Making Sense of Illness explores the ways we cope with both short-term and chronic health problems. Author Alan Radley identifies--and assesses the impact of--our responses to illness, considering the possible mitigating effects of such elements as personal beliefs and emotionally supportive relationships; he also acknowledges the negative effects that stress, resulting from a variety of cultural as well as personal factors, may cause. With its clear and lucid style, this keen work relates to the reader's own experience. A comprehensive introduction to relevant research--and a critical commentary on explanations of health and illness in social life, this book will be essential reading for students of health sciences, psychology, and sociology It is hard to imagine a more important project for nurses that trying to understand how people make sense of health and illness. This is a book that will certainly be of assistance in achieving such and understanding. . . . It is written in a clear accessible style but does not trivialize the issues, and the author provides a wealth of suggestions for further reading. --Nursing Times Agenda
Synopsis
This book is a must read for all students of health psychology, and will be of considerable interest and value to others interested in the field. The discipline has not involved itself with the central issues of this book so far, but Radley has now brought this material together in an accessible way, offering important new perspectives, and directions for the discipline. This book goes a long way towards making sense for, and of, health psychology' - Journal of Health Psychology
What are people's beliefs about health? What do they do when they feel ill? Why do they go to the doctor? How do they live with chronic disease? This introduction to the social psychology of health and illness addresses these and ot
Synopsis
A comprehensive overview of the way bodily experiences of health and disease in everyday life are given meaning in a society dominated by the biomedical model of well-being... Radley] draws on studies from a variety of disciplines including medical sociology, health psychology and medical anthropology. By addressing the issues in this way, he clarifies how the kind of research methodology adopted reveals different kinds of truths... the book provides a valuable and critical introduction to the social and psychological consideration of health and illness. Furthermore, given the increasing interest in user perspectives in health care provision, it will be useful reading for all those interested in health promotion and how ideas of health and illness are constructed' - Social Sciences in Health