Handbook of Health Social Work

The updated third edition of the definitive text on health social work

Thoroughly revised and updated, the third edition of Handbook of Health Social Work is an authoritative text that offers a comprehensive review of the diverse field of health social work. With contributions from a panel of international experts in the field, the book is theory driven and solidly grounded in evidence-based practice. The contributors explore both the foundation of social work practice and offer guidance on effective strategies, policies, and program development.

The text provides information that is essential to the operations of social workers in health care including the conceptual underpinnings and the development of the profession. The authors explore the practice issues such as theories of health behavior, assessment, communication and the intersections between health and mental health. The authors also examine a wide range of examples of social work practices including settings that involve older adults, nephrology, oncology, and chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, genetics, end of life care, pain management and palliative care, as well as alternative treatments, and traditional healers. This is the only handbook of its kind to unite the body of health social work and:

•    Offers a wellness, rather than psychopathological perspective and contains treatment models that are evidence-based

•    Includes learning exercises, further resources, research suggestions, and life-course information.

•    Contains new chapters on topics such as international health, insurance and payment systems, and implementation of evidence-based practice

•    Presents information on emerging topics such as health policy in an age of reform, and genomics and the social environment 

•    Reviews new trends in social work and health care including genetics, trans-disciplinary care, and international, national, and state changes in policy  

Written for social work educators, administrators, students, and practitioners, the revised third edition of Handbook of Health Social Work offers in one volume the entire body of health social work knowledge.

SARAH GEHLERT, PHD, is Dean and University of South Carolina Educational Foundation Distinguished Professor, College of Social Work, University of South Carolina. She also is the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity Emerita at the Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Gehlert is the President of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.

TERI BROWNE, PHD, is Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty and Research in the College of Social Work at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Browne is the Co-Director for Interprofessional Education for the Health Sciences at the University of South Carolina.