Handbook of Behavioral Medicine

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 clinical and public health strategies for health behavior change.

From the reviews:
“This book is squarely targeted at anyone involved in the delivery of behavioral medicine services, which includes both experienced practitioners and students of related disciplines. … The editors and contributing authors have admirably assembled a definitive reference in behavioral medicine that is far more comprehensive than anything on the market today. It would be difficult to justify one’s existence as a behavioral medicine specialist without this in one’s professional library.” (Christopher J. Graver, Doody’s Review Service, March, 2012)