Deborah Fish Ragin, Associate Professor of Psychology, has had her next book, Health Psychology: An Interdisciplinary Approach, appear in print. Published by Prentice Hall, the text offers a critical examination of the biopsychosocial model of health and proposes the use of the social ecological model as a more comprehensive explanation of health outcomes; both of which are unique approaches in a health psychology text.
The social ecological model, utilizing a truly interdisciplinary approach to the study of health, 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. 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.
In less than 2 months since its release, already over 13 universities/colleges have adopted the book for use, including Cornell Univ, Ohio Univ, Penn State Univ, and Hunter College of the City University of New York.