Can health be improved? Can quality healthcare be delivered more effec tively? Can doctors and other health professionals be better at their job and deliver higher quality of care? The answer to these three ques tions is "yes," and this book shows how, through the use of existing k nowledge, the enormous potential for health can be unleashed. A key el ement of improving health, health care and the quality of life of pati ents is to ensure that those concerned with delivering the services ha ve high standards of education and training. Part of this book is ther efore devoted to this topic,...

Writing is a means of making sense of experience, and of arriving at a deeper understanding of the self. The use of creative writing therapeutically can complement verbal discussions, and offers a cost- and time-effective way of extending support to depressed or psychologically distressed patients. Suitable both for health-care professionals who wish to implement therapeutic writing with their patients, and for those wishing to start writing creatively in order to help themselves, The Therapeutic Potential of Creative Writing provides practical, well tried and tested suggestions for beginning...

Controversies about risks to public health regularly hit the news, whether about food safety, environmental issues, medical interventions, or "lifestyle" risks, such as drinking. To those trying to manage or regulate risks, public reactions sometimes seem bizarre. To the public, the behavior of those supposedly "in charge" can seem no less odd. Trust is currently at a premium. This new edition of Risk Communication and Public Health covers the theoretical and research background, and presents a wide range of contemporary case studies and the learning experiences from these, and the political,...