The Handbook of Health Behavior Change (4th ed.)

Abstract

The fourth edition of the Handbook of Health Behavior Change, edited by Riekert, Ockene, and Pbert (2014), provides updated information and evidence, from over 60 contributing authors, concerning health behavior change, health management, and the obstacles and avenues to both. The text is divided into six sections: (1) Theoretical Models of Health Behavior Change; (2) Barriers to and Facilitators of Lifestyle Change and Disease Management; (3) Lifestyle Change/Disease Prevention Interventions; (4) Chronic Disease Management Interventions; (5) Community, System, and Provider Interventions to Support Health Behavior Change; and (6) Health Behavior Change Research Methodology. The authors provide the reader with a spectrum of theories and interventions ranging from individual to population-based models, each framed with current empirical literature. The reader is given the opportunity to compare and contrast each theory or intervention method as the authors present each in an objective, well-articulated manner. The stated goal of this fourth edition is to provide relevant contemporary information pertaining to theories, challenges, and interventions to promoting and maintaining health behavior change to both researchers and practitioners alike. The authors and editors achieved their goal by using a thoughtful progression from overarching theories of health behavior change to specific examples of interventions and research methodology, in a manner that is both commonsensical and easy to follow. This edition improves on previous editions by incorporating chapters addressing current practices in health behavior change, focusing on “the need to implement and disseminate interventions in real-world setting” (Preface). More so than previous editions, this version underscores the persistence of health disparities over a vast array of health conditions and a pressing need to work toward eliminating such disparities.