Lecture Notes on Human Physiology

Lecture Notes on Human Physiology

Health Psychology: An introduction for nurses and health care professionals, by Neil Niven BSc PhD. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 1989 (ISBN 0 443...

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Health Psychology: An introduction for nurses and health care professionals, by Neil Niven BSc PhD. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 1989 (ISBN 0 443 03665 9). 380 pages. €8.95. Health psychology should be the concern of all health professionals, claims Niven, not solely that of professional psychologists. Furthermore he says that the discipline should reflect the needs of the health professionals themselves. However, as health psychology has only recently begun to emerge as a separate domain, it is still liable t o be confused w i t h clinical psychology, abnormal psychology or psychiatry. This specialty within psychology focuses on normal human behaviour, emphasising health and prevention rather than illness and treatment. The Psychology and Physiotherapy Working Group has demonstrated that many areas of psychological knowledge are useful to physiotherapists in their quest to improve their practice further and understand their clients (Physiotherapy, September 1983 page 329,and March 1985 page 148;British Psychological Society North of England Branch Newsletter, December 1987 page 24-37).Niven covers several (but not all) such areas in this book. He groups his nine chapters into three sections. The first relates to the process of interacting with patients, the second investigates basic experiences such as pain, life transitions and health behaviour, while the last deals with the effect of the environment, age differences and the work situation. Chapters such as 'Health behaviour' (largely to do with compliance), 'Communication processes', and 'Interpersonal Beginning W i t h Empathy: Learners' handbook, facilitator's guidebook and workshop pack, by Verena Tschudin. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 1989 (ISBN 0 443 04246 2, 0 443 04244 6). Illus. Handbook €9.95,guidebook €60,pack

€150.

Together, the handbook and guidebook provide the framework for a two-day workshop on this aspect of communication. The author, a respected figure in the fields of nursing and counselling, has designed the work for both trained and trainee nurses but adds that it could be adapted to any group of people. The aims of the pack are to help people recognise their capacity for empathy and to feel confident in practising it - aims to be

A n amusing cartoon from 'Beginning With Empathy '

364

skills' cover their subject in enough depth to satisfy non-specialists. Physiotherapists, however, will probably use the section on pain and stress as a good starting point from which to launch into a more detailed study. The book is well presented and written in an accessible style with sufficient references in the text and suggestions for further reading right at the end of the book. Niven's sub-title suggests that the material has been selected with nurses and health professionals in mind - a contradiction if we take seriously the claim that health psychology is, by definition, the concern of all health professionals. The text, however, does not seem to reflect this focus; less than a dozen of all the many studies cited refer specifically to nurses and nursing - none to physiotherapists. In fact the book may be regarded as a straightforward introduction to health psychology and that is no bad thing. If we accept that there is considerably more to physiotherapy than a need to perfect the currently most favoured technique, then psychology must be a core discipline and this book offers a good foundation to the health psychology component. We should now take Niven at his word. He proposes that the content of health psychology should be 'driven' by health professionals w i t h a knowledge of psychology. In this case physiotherapists can move on to identify those areas of physiotherapy practice yielding problems amenable to psychological solutions, thereby health psychology will be enriched while physiotherapy practice will be refined.

Lecture Notes on Human Physiology, edited by John J Bray, Patricia A Cragg, Antony D C Macknight, Roland G Mills and Douglass W Taylor. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 2ndedn. 1989 (ISBN063202311 2). Illus. 636 pages. f12.95. This is the second edition of a book first published in 1986 which has been revised and expanded in places. It admirably fulfils the editors' aim, which is to provide 'an adjunct to the large textbooks'. Seventeen persons contributed to the book, some to more than one chapter. All but one are members of the department of physiology, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand. The 16 chapters are well structured with the sub-sections and headings clearly set out at the beginning of each chapter. This structure ensures easy access to the information, and would therefore be particularly useful for revision purposes. The text has been well supplied with diagrams, graphs and tables, all appropriately labelled and positioned to clarify the contents.

JANET M SIMPSON PhD AFBPsS MCSP

applauded by anyone who has ever lain in a hospital bed. The method which she advocates of promoting it, with self-selected learners, if it is the only method, raises questions: how are the ones who do not come forward going t o learn the subject? Should they attend a different form of workshop? Critics might feel that empathy, along w i t h other components of communication, should be part of the basic education of all health care professionals; to train people in a traditional way and offer a psychosocial dimension only to those who ask for it, will not have the same effect. The material is presented in an easily digestible manner, with a step-by-step approach, numerous examples of situations for discussion, and copious illustrations, all in a ring-binder form. Structured around the four topics of 'being', 'talking', 'feeling' and 'empathy' itself, the text leads participants through a consideration of self-awareness to one in which they are faced with the problems experienced by their clients. The work is pitched at a level which assumes no previous training in the area, either experiential or academic on the part of the learners. The facilitator however, as the author reminds us, should already have taken part in a similar course, as a learner, to give him/her some grasp of the dynamics of workshops. The full pack is expensive. Viewed as comprehensive course material, however, the price is more acceptable and a copy on the library shelf would be valuable for schools wishing to run such a course. ROSEMARY PAYNE BSc MCSP

Illustration o f a motor neurone lE. R. =endoplasmic reticulum). One of the many diagrams from 'Lecture Notes on Human Physiology'

The chapters on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems are clearly expressed, providing the important concepts of regulation and adjustment in both normal and abnormal conditions. The neuromuscular system merits six chapters, the content spanning from the structure and function of cells to the higher functions and control. Reflexes pertaining to posture and movement are clearly explained with the use of some clinical examples. This section does not however include a table of conduction rates or frequencies which would further clarify the text. The chapter on exercise is brief and outlines the circulatory and respiratory responses. This book would provide a concise source of information to physiotherapy students during the first two years of pre-registration education. ANN I ORR BA MCSP DipTP

Physiotherapy, June 1990,vd 76, no 6