"Tie a Knot and Hang On" is an analysis of mental health care work that crosses the borders of diverse sociological traditions. The work seeks to understand the theoretical and empirical linkages between environmental pressures and activities and how these intersect with organizations and individuals. The work draws upon a research tradition that sees the issue of mental health care in terms of institutional pressures and normative values. The author provides a description and a sociological analysis of mental health care work, emphasizing the interaction of professionally generated norms that guide the "emotional labor" of mental health care workers, and the organizational contexts within which mental health care is provided. She concludes with a discussion of emerging institutional forces that will shape the mental health care system in the future. These forces are having greater impact than ever before as managed care comes to have a huge fiscal as well as institutional impact on the work of mental health professionals. Scheid's book is a brilliant, nuanced effort to explain the institutional demands for efficiency and cost containment with the professional ethics that emphasize quality care for the individual. The book is essential reading for those interested in mental health care organizations and the providers responding to these seemingly larger, abstract demands. The work offers a rich mixture not just of the problems faced by mental health care personnel, but the equilibrium currently in place u an equilibrium that shapes the theory of the field, no less than the activities of its practitioners. "Teresa L. Scheid" is associate professor of sociology, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has published widely in the area, including major essays in "Sociology of Health and Illness, Sociological Quarterly, Perspectives on Social Problems," and "The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science."

A comprehensive health care system consists of services that are coordinated and integrated along the full continuum of care. For HIV patients, this includes physical health care, infectious disease management, crisis care, mental health care, substance abuse counseling, and social support services including housing, transportation, subsistence, and supports for dealing with multiple sources of stigma. This book highlights the dilemmas faced in providing comprehensive, integrated care to individuals living with HIV, providing both an understanding of existing efforts to integrate diverse systems of care, as well as insight into ways in which systems of care must be challenged in order to meet the needs of people living with HIV. Comprehensive Care for HIV/AIDS is the result of collaborative work with the county Health Department, numerous community-based organizations, and several planning boards in a metropolitan area, which have sought to provide integrated care to people living with HIV. It will be a valuable resource to the diverse community of HIV researchers, advocates and providers.

A comprehensive health care system consists of services that are coordinated and integrated along the full continuum of care. For HIV patients, this includes physical health care, infectious disease management, crisis care, mental health care, substance abuse counseling, and social support services including housing, transportation, subsistence, and supports for dealing with multiple sources of stigma. This book highlights the dilemmas faced in providing comprehensive, integrated care to individuals living with HIV, providing both an understanding of existing efforts to integrate diverse systems of care, as well as insight into ways in which systems of care must be challenged in order to meet the needs of people living with HIV. Comprehensive Care for HIV/AIDS is the result of collaborative work with the county Health Department, numerous community-based organizations, and several planning boards in a metropolitan area, which have sought to provide integrated care to people living with HIV. It will be a valuable resource to the diverse community of HIV researchers, advocates and providers.

Reducing health disparities by increasing access to health information is a national health policy priority. Evidence exists that direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising (DTCA) is effective in educating consumers about health issues. However, racial disparities exist in such advertising. In 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a report that included recommendations for enhancing the ability of DTCA to reach disadvantaged populations, including racial and ethnic minorities. Reducing Race Differences in Direct to Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising compares the pharmaceutical advertisements placed in five popular women's magazines published prior to and following the 2009 FDA report to assess the impact of these recommendations on the content and appearance of advertisements placed in magazines of differing racial orientation. From a health policy perspective, the results are disappointing. The FDA recommendations had no impact on the frequency or content of the DTCA appearing in White-oriented versus Black-oriented magazines. In fact, far fewer drugs used to treat life-threatening conditions were advertised in Black-oriented magazines after the 2009 FDA recommendations. The book concludes that enhancing the educational and motivational value of DTCA will require more than a set of recommendations. The results shed light on the pharmaceutical industry's compliance with both hard and soft regulation. Neither federal recommendations nor industry guidelines resulted in the changes to DTCA envisioned by the FDA. Regulatory action is necessary to ensure that pharmaceutical companies develop advertising campaigns that not only promote their products, but also positively impact the health outcomes of those who read their ads.