Handbook of Program Development for Health Behavior Research and Practice
- Steve Sussman - University of Southern California, USA
The Handbook of Program Development for Health Behavior Research and Practice guides the reader from program development theory through program activity analysis and selection, immediate impact studies, and intermediate and long-term outcome measurement. The handbook consists of five parts, providing a wealth of information about:
- The history and rationale for engaging in health behavior program development, including a case study that shows how to apply the six-step program development model and ways of surmounting the hurdles to engaging in program development
- The role of theory in program development, the use of assessment studies to fill in gaps in theory regarding what leads to health-related behavior, and many issues and resources relevant to pooling information about prior interventions
- Perceived efficacy (i.e. concept evaluation) methods of activity selection, including verbal and paper-and-pencil methods of selecting potentially useful activities
- Immediate-impact studies of activities and program creation
- Ways to find immediate-outcome measures that predict longer-term outcome measures, and future issues to consider in the arena of health behavior program development.
Each section consists of an overview; one or more commentaries from recognized theorists, researchers, and practitioners in the health field, and case studies that provide guidelines on addressing relevant aspects of program development. These case studies will provide useful information for discussion, research, and application. In all, this handbook provides 20 chapters of detailed and useful information for researchers, academics, public health practitioners, students, policymakers, and those who engage in any aspect of health program development or evaluation.
"Steve Sussman and his collaborators have done a magnificent job of putting this book together. It is clearly going to be an important resource for health education researchers for years to come. There are many social science and biomedical researchers who have not been trained in the methods of health education research who will benefit from the wisdom and know-how contained in this volume. There are also many students in schools of public health, nursing, education and communication whose career goal for research or practice in health education and promotion will be assisted greatly."
