Social and Behavioral Foundations of Public Health

This thoroughly updated edition of Social and Behavioral Foundations of Public Health emphasizes the importance of social environmental and cultural dimensions of health by examining current issues in health from a wide range of social and behavioral science perspectives. The book uses a social-ecological framework to address multilevel influences on health and applies key concepts in current research and practice. Editor Jeannine Coreil and thirty contributing authors use examples from the forefront of public health to illustrate the relevance of core competencies in the field for diverse real-world problems.

This edition includes five new chapters (Environmental Health; Public Health Ethics; Communication and Media; Global Health; Homelessness), four expanded chapters, updated content within foundational chapters, and revised/expanded ancillaries. More than half of the chapters have been written by new contributors. The changes reflect contemporary developments and challenges in public health, especially the COVID-19 pandemic and the politics of public health. Ancillary materials link book content to current competencies in public health education.

A field-defining resource for more than two decades, this work serves as a core textbook for graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses in public health and allied fields.