Both health care practitioners and health planners are beginning to recognize the importance of differences between lay and professional concepts of health and illness. The editors of this volume, having themselves worked in this field for many years, have selected and brought together writings by distinguished scholars from Britain, France, the United States, Germany and Poland. What impresses most is the range of problems synthesized from a genuinely international and interdisciplinary perspective. No reader can fail to be fascinated by the often peculiar ways in which different societies have tried to cope with the existential questions of health and illness.

Service users frequently encounter services at times of personal or family crisis. As a result, all social workers need to be aware of the impact of loss if they are to work effectively. This book looks at theoretical developments surrounding issues of change, loss and grieving, encouraging social workers to explore and reflect on the relevance of such issues to their own practice. Furthermore, the book discusses the potential impact of practitioners' own experiences of loss. Issues are explored with reference to the Codes of Practice for Social Care Workers, National Occupational Standards and examples of interdisciplinary working across contexts.