Below is a selection of recently published books which the Editorial Team at MSo think are of interest to the MedSoc community.
We would welcome formal reviews of any of these publications or alternatively you may add a brief comment here, below the details.
Health Workforce Governance - Edited by Stephanie D. Short, Fiona McDonald
With increasing recognition of the international market in health professionals and the impact of globalism on regulation, the governance of the health workforce is moving towards greater public engagement and increased transparency. This book discusses the challenges posed by these processes such as improved access to health services and how structures can be reformed so that good practice is upheld and quality of service and patient safety are ensured.
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Involving Children and Young People in Health and Social Care Research - Edited by Jennie Fleming, Thilo Boeck
Led by both children’s rights perspectives and methodological arguments, there is an increasing emphasis on children and young people’s participation in health and social care research by researchers, policy makers and funding bodies – with many now considering the active involvement of children and young people a requirement. There is little exploration of how to address and overcome the many challenges arising from their participation, however.
Improving Organizational Interventions For Stress and Well-Being - Edited by Caroline Biron, Maria Karanika-Murray, Cary Cooper
This book brings together a number of experts in the field of organizational interventions for stress and well-being, and discusses the importance of process and context issues to the success or failure of such interventions. The book explores how context and process can be incorporated into program evaluation, providing examples of how this can be done, and offers insights that aim to improve working life.
Population Mental Health - Edited by Neal Cohen, Sandro Galea
Over the last century public health efforts, such as immunization, safer food practices, public health education and promotion, improved sanitation, and water purification have been very successful in eradicating and controlling a host of diseases. The result has been a dramatic improvement in health and life expectancy. However, the impact that mental illnesses have on individuals and society as a
Children’s Food Practices in Families and Institutions - Edited by Samantha Punch, Ian McIntosh, Ruth Emond
This book brings together recent UK studies into children’s experiences and practices around food in a range of contexts, linking these to current policy and practice perspectives. It reveals that food works not only on a material level as sustenance but also on a symbolic level as something that can stand for thoughts, feelings, and relationships. The three broad contexts of schools, families and care (residential homes and foster care) are explored to show the ways in which both children and adults use food. Food is used as a means by which adults care for children and is also something through which adults manage their own feelings and relationships to each other which in turn impact on children’s experiences.
Gender and Genetics - Sociology of the Prenatal - Kate Reed
Prenatal screening for genetic disorders is becoming an increasingly widespread phenomenon across the globe. While studies have highlighted the importance of women’s experiences of such screening, little is known about men’s roles and direct involvement in this process. With a focus on the experiences of both women and men, this text offers an innovative and passionate account of the gendered nature of prenatal screening.
Health and care in ageing societies - A new international approach - Liz Lloyd
Wed, May 16 2012 12:02
| Books, Policy Press
In the context of global ageing societies, there are few challenges to the underlying assumption that policies should promote functional health and independence in older people and contain the costs of care. This important book offers such a challenge.
Supporting people with alcohol and drug problems - Making a difference - Sarah Galvani
Wed, May 16 2012 12:01
| Books, Policy Press
Social workers and other social care professionals regularly face the challenges of working with people with alcohol and other drug problems. Yet many receive little, if any, training for working with these issues. As substance use and its social impact on communities and families rises up the political agenda, this book offers a timely support for social workers and other social care staff working in this area.
Technologies of Sexuality, Identity and Sexual Health - Edited by Lenore Manderson
Technologies of Sexuality, Identity and Sexual Health highlights the complex ways in which sexuality is expressed and enacted through local ideologies, global identities and material cultures, and their influence on people’s sexual health and well-being. Its impetus is the renewed interest in technology and the ‘social life of things,’ including pharmaceuticals, expanded sexual and related surgery, the growing exploitation of markets for sexual and contraceptive products, and the impact of these on sexual and health practices and outcomes.
The Institutionalization of Social Welfare - A Study of Medicalizing Management - Mikael Holmqvist
Today most countries rely on formally organized welfare programs - in some cases to the extent that they are labeled "welfare states". These programs, which have been constructed over the last decades, make up a larger national and international system of good intentions. Overall, it appears inconceivable to imagine "civilized society" without a comprehensive organizational system of social welfare.
Biopolitics and the 'Obesity Epidemic' - Edited by Jan Wright, Valerie Harwood
Biopolitics and the ‘Obesity Epidemic’ is the first edited collection of critical perspectives on the 'obesity epidemic.' The volume provides a comprehensive discussion of current issues in the critical analysis of health, obesity and society, and the impact of obesity discourses on different individuals, social groups and institutions. Contributors from the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia provide original, accessible, and engaging chapters on issues such as the effects on individuals, families, youths and schools. The timely contributions offered by Biopolitics and the ‘Obesity Epidemic’ to this highly topical area will be of interest to a wide range of readers, including teachers, education professionals, community health and allied professionals, and academics in areas such as education, health, youth studies, social work and psychology.
Ultra-Low Fertility in Pacific Asia - Edited by Paulin Straughan, Angelique Chan, Gavin Jones
Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong SAR are among the very lowest-fertility countries in the whole world, and even China has reached fertility levels lower than those in many European countries. If these levels continue over long periods East Asia will soon face accelerating population decline in addition the changes in age distributions in such populations raise major new questions for planning of economic and social welfare.
The International Legal Governance of the Human Genome - Chamundeeswari Kuppuswamy
The human genome is a well known symbol of scientific and technological progress in the 21st century. However, concerns about the exacerbation of inequalities between the rich and the poor, the developing and the developed states, the healthy and the unhealthy are causing problems for the progress of scientific research. The international community is moving towards a human rights approach in addressing these concerns.
Contemporary Health Studies, An Introduction - Louise Warwick-Booth, Ruth Cross & Diane Lowcock
Contemporary Health Studies: An Introduction provides a lively and accessible introduction to the current issues and key debates in this area. It contains a strong, up-to-date, global, social-scientific focus examining the human experience of health particularly emphasising its social, political and environmental dimensions.
Regenerating Bodies - Tissue & Cell Therapies in the 21st Century - Julie Kent
This exciting book examines how human tissues and cells are being exchanged, commodified and commercialised by new health technologies. Through a discussion of emergent global ‘tissue economies’ the author explores the social dynamics of innovation in the fields of tissue engineering and stem cell science. The book explores how regenerative medicine configures and conceptualises bodies and argues that the development of regenerative medicine is a feminist issue.
Health Equity, Social Justice and Human Rights - Ann Taket
Important links between health and human rights are increasingly recognised and human rights can be viewed as one of the social determinants of health. Furthermore, a human rights framework provides an excellent foundation for advocacy on health inequalities, a value-based alternative to views of health as a commodity, and the opportunity to move away from public health action being based on charity.
Ecological Public Health - Geof Rayner, Tim Lang
What is public health? To some, it is about drains, water, food and housing, all requiring engineering and expert management. To others, it is the State using medicine or health education and tackling unhealthy lifestyles.
Contemporary Theorists for Medical Sociology - Edited by Graham Scambler
Contemporary Theorists for Medical Sociology explores the work of key social theorists and the application of their ideas to issues around health and illness.
Understanding the Sociology of Health, An Introduction, 3rd Edition - Anne-Marie Barry , Chris Yuill
Understanding the Sociology of Health, Third Edition is an accessible introduction to a subject which is often shrouded in jargon. Providing case studies and exercises to really get students thinking, this book shows how sociology provides the means to answer complex questions about health and illness, such as why health inequalities exist. The new edition includes new chapters on the history of health and healing; sexuality; sport, fitness and exercise; and death and dying.
The Body - Nick J. Fox
The medical and social sciences offer us many ways of understanding the human body and what it can do. From biology and psychology to sociology and philosophy, a range of disciplines supply us with a rich yet challenging picture. On the one hand, our bodies are fashioned from genes, cells and organs; on the other, they are the foundation for our identities, our interactions and lived experiences from childhood to old age.
Individual Outcomes – Getting back to what matters - Emma Miller
Thu, Dec 8 2011 12:00
| Books, Dunedin Academic Press
There is an increasing emphasis on outcomes in public services in the UK. Whilst the considerable improvement potential of the approach is emerging, it is also apparent that there are different understandings and interpretations of outcomes at play in both policy and practice terms. There is also a significant challenge at all levels in the system in making the shift from focusing on ‘outputs’ to ‘outcomes’.
Supporting Vulnerable Adults: Citizenship, Capacity, Choice - Ailsa Stewart
Thu, Dec 8 2011 12:00
| Books, Dunedin Academic Press
The author examines theories of citizenship, capacity and choice when supporting vulnerable adults and uses the impact of the early implementation of the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 as a model. Her main themes are the extent of the reach of the state and the appropriateness of this with; a discussion of the tension between autonomy and protection and consideration of whether or not vulnerability impacts on the human rights of individuals. Concepts of harm and abuse are explored. Key questions answered include: does diminished intellectual capacity limit your rights as a citizen? Does vulnerability, and being at risk of harm or abuse, limit capacity? The author also explores whether the introduction of such legislation compromises individuals’ free will and choice.
Alcohol - Ken Barrie
Thu, Dec 8 2011 12:00
| Books, Dunedin Academic Press
Ken Barrie considers alcohol use and problems in a contemporary context, in the UK, taking account of mounting concerns about health and antisocial behaviour in the early years of the 21st century. These concerns are set against the decreasing price of alcohol and increasing consumption over the past four decades.
Learning from Child Deaths and Serious Abuse in Scotland - Sharon Vincent
Thu, Nov 19 2009 12:00
| Books, Dunedin Academic Press
High profile child deaths and significant abuse cases have been a significant driver for reform of child protection policy in the UK. Whilst there is a wealth of information on child deaths and significant abuse cases in England and Wales there is far less published information available in Scotland. Sharon Vincent addresses this gap.
Death, Dying and Bereavement: Issues for practice - Jacqueline H Watts
Thu, Nov 12 2009 12:00
| Books, Dunedin Academic Press
Dr Watts considers the social context of death and dying in Britain today and the ways in which this influences service delivery. Care of the dying has become increasingly professionalised and medicalised and so hospitals, nursing homes and hospices are now the setting for most deaths. The provision of support for bereaved people has attracted greater attention with a large increase in the number of trained bereavement counsellors working in both charity and clinical settings.
The details and descriptions of the books featured on this page are provided by the publishers and the MSo Editorial team can take no responsibility for their accuracy.
To submit a formal review of any of the publications above, or another book, please go to our Book Review submissions page.
Publishers wishing to have their books featured here should contact the Journal Administrator in the first instance.
