4th Edition

Health Psychology An Interdisciplinary Approach

By Deborah Fish Ragin Copyright 2025
670 Pages 75 Color Illustrations
by Routledge

670 Pages 75 Color Illustrations
by Routledge

670 Pages 75 Color Illustrations
by Routledge

Also available as eBook on:
Now in its fourth edition, Health Psychology takes a truly interdisciplinary approach to studying health psychology, and offers a comprehensive overview of the subareas within this fascinating subject. Fully revised to reflect current research and studies, and now in full color, the book includes new content on the impact of COVID-19 and greater coverage of health diversity. It unpacks the... Read more

1. An Interdisciplinary View of Health.

2. Research Methods

3. Theories and Models of Health Behavior Change

4. Global, Communicable, and Chronic Disease

5. Risky Health Behaviors: Part I

5. Risky Health Behaviors: Part II

6. Emotional Health and Well-Being

7. Stress and Coping

8. Psychoneuroimmunology

9. Cardiovascular Disease

10. Chronic Pain Management and Arthritis

11. Cancer

12. Health Care Systems and Health Policy: Effects on Health Outcomes

13. The Health Psychologist’s Role: Research, Application, and Advocacy

Biography

Deborah Fish Ragin is Professor Emerita of Psychology at Montclair State University, New Jersey. She served as Assistant Professor on the faculties of Hunter College, City University of New York, and as Associate Research Professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (now the Icahn School of Medicine) before joining Montclair State. She also served as an American Psychological Association Representative to the United Nations, focusing on the psychosocial impact of HIV/AIDS.

“There is no better health psychology book on the market with an ecological perspective.'

Ellen Langer, Harvard University, USA.

‘Capturing the field of Health Psychology in a single textbook can be quite challenging – the field’s expansive research across multiple fields of study must be balanced with accessible content and student engagement. Dr. Debby Ragin meets this challenge in her newly revised ‘Health Psychology: An Interdisciplinary Approach’. This textbook is a perfect blend of theory, concepts and contributions from multiple fields (e.g., Epidemiology), and data-driven examples. Perhaps most importantly, theories and concepts are applied in the form of stories throughout, as well as beginning each chapter with an “Opening Story” and closing with a “Personal Postscript”. This approach is engaging and memorable, moving well beyond the “data dump” found in some textbooks, and helping students find the relevance of this material to their lives.’

Brooks B. Gump, PhD, MPH; Falk Endowed Professor of Public Health, Syracuse University, USA.

‘This new edition caters for the decolonisation of health for illness care and management. The focus on holistic healthcare and diversity, with interesting case studies, puts forward excellent practical integration to theoretical contexts- an ideal for students from various disciplines. The importance of spiritual, emotional, religious, environmental, and cultural contexts for health and wellbeing, emphasises how useful this book is, to understand healthcare behaviours in different global community contexts.’

Sabihah Moola, University of South Africa (UNISA), South Africa.

Praise for the previous edition:

'Within the pages of Ragin’s Health Psychology: An Interdisciplinary Approach, the fascinating complexity of human health is depicted through a social ecological framework that seamlessly integrates the many individual, social, institutional, and structural factors influencing the health of individuals and populations, artfully rendered through accessible coverage of judiciously selected research and illuminating real-world examples, including both historical and current events from across the globe.'

Susan E. Walch, The University of West Florida, USA.