Social and Behavioral Science for Health Professionals examines various social and behavioral factors that affect health and illness, with a particular focus on how these phenomena inform clinical practice. The book introduces interdisciplinary insights from fields like sociology, psychology, and epidemiology to elucidate important and often problematic features of patient care routinely confronting physicians, nurses, and other allied health practitioners. Each chapter provides clear learning objectives and is organized around core concepts to facilitate clinicians' abilities to think in new and expanded ways about health and illness, as well as patient and professional interactions. The content explores the implications of a shifting epidemiological landscape; the critical roles of social factors as fundamental causes of health and disease; health disparities; the medicalization process and resulting changes in diagnostic patterns and expectations of practitioners; understandings of the illness experience of patients; interpersonal and interprofessional collaboration; clinical bioethics and the social psychology of ethical decision-making; and the significance of health system design and health policy. As a result, the book represents an important resource for improving patient care, particularly at a time when health is more intricately linked to social and behavioral conditions than ever before.

In 1983, anthropologist Richard Pace began his fieldwork in the Amazonian community of Gurupa one year after the first few television sets arrived. On a nightly basis, as the community's electricity was turned on, he observed crowds of people lining up outside open windows or doors of the few homes possessing TV sets, intent on catching a glimpse of this fascinating novelty. Stoic, mute, and completely absorbed, they stood for hours contemplating every message and image presented. So begins the cultural turning point that is the basis of Amazon Town TV, a rich analysis of Gurupa in the decades during and following the spread of television. Pace worked with sociologist Brian Hinote to explore the sociocultural implications of television's introduction in this community long isolated by geographic and communication barriers. They explore how viewers change their daily routines to watch the medium; how viewers accept, miss, ignore, negotiate, and resist media messages; and how television's influence works within the local cultural context to modify social identities, consumption patterns, and worldviews.

Social and Behavioral Science for Health Professionals examines various social and behavioral factors that affect health and illness, with a particular focus on how these phenomena inform clinical practice. The book introduces interdisciplinary insights from fields like sociology, psychology, and epidemiology to elucidate important and often problematic features of patient care routinely confronting physicians, nurses, and other allied health practitioners. Each chapter provides clear learning objectives and is organized around core concepts to facilitate clinicians' abilities to think in new and expanded ways about health and illness, as well as patient and professional interactions. The content explores the implications of a shifting epidemiological landscape; the critical roles of social factors as fundamental causes of health and disease; health disparities; the medicalization process and resulting changes in diagnostic patterns and expectations of practitioners; understandings of the illness experience of patients; interpersonal and interprofessional collaboration; clinical bioethics and the social psychology of ethical decision-making; and the significance of health system design and health policy. As a result, the book represents an important resource for improving patient care, particularly at a time when health is more intricately linked to social and behavioral conditions than ever before.