The aim of this encyclopedia is to provide a comprehensive reference work on scientific and other scholarly research on the quality of life, including health-related quality of life research or also called patient-reported outcomes research. Since the 1960s two overlapping but fairly distinct research communities and traditions have developed concerning ideas about the quality of life, individually and collectively, one with a fairly narrow focus on health-related issues and one with a quite broad focus. In many ways, the central issues of these fields have roots extending to the observations and speculations of ancient philosophers, creating a continuous exploration by diverse explorers in diverse historic and cultural circumstances over several centuries of the qualities of human existence. What we have not had so far is a single, multidimensional reference work connecting the most salient and important contributions to the relevant fields. Entries are organized alphabetically and cover basic concepts, relatively well established facts, lawlike and causal relations, theories, methods, standardized tests, biographic entries on significant figures, organizational profiles, indicators and indexes of qualities of individuals and of communities of diverse sizes, including rural areas, towns, cities, counties, provinces, states, regions, countries and groups of countries.

We seek to throw down the gauntlet with this handbook, challenging the he gemony of the "behavioral medicine" approach to the psychological study and treatment of the physically ill. This volume is not another in that growing surfeit oftexts that pledge allegiance to the doctrinaire purity of behavioristic thinking, or conceptualize their subject in accord with the sterility of medical models. Diseases are not our focus, nor is the narrow band of behavioral assessment and therapy methodologies. Rather, we have sought to redefine this amorphous, yet burgeoning field so as to place it squarely within the province of a broadly-based psychology-specifically, the emerging, substantive discipline of health psy chology and the well-established professionalism and diverse technologies of clinical psychology. The handbook's title-Clinical Health Psychology-reflects this reorientation explicitly, and Chapter 1 addresses its themes and provides its justifications more fully. In the process of developing a relevant and comprehensive health assess ment tool, the editors were struck by the failure of clinical psychologists to avail themselves of the rich vein of materials that comprise the psychosocial world of the physically ill. Perhaps more dismaying was the observation that this field was being mined-less than optimally-by physicians and nonclinical psychologists.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on `Stress and Communities', Château de Bonas, France, June 14--18, 1994

The Society for Life History Research in Psychopathology is a group of investigators from many disciplines who share an interest in studying the longitudinal aspects of psychiat ric disorder. Sociologists, psychologists, statisticians, psychiatrists, epidemiologists, and others each bring to the study of life history the expertise and vantage point arising from his or her unique training and experience. This volume, the fifth in a series, is devoted to explor ing the methods used to contribute to the understanding of the complex unfolding of a human life as it avoids, copes with, or succumbs to psychiatric disorder. We hope that by describing these methods, their current status, advantages, and short comings, this volume can serve as a guidepost to all who are involved in our field to help understand it further and to generate solutions for the many crucial problems we face. J. S. H. B. M. R. Contents Introduction . . . . . 1 John S. Strauss, Haroutun M. Babigian, and Merrill Roff SECTION I CONTROLLED VS. NATURALISTIC APPROACHES CHAPTER 1 Controlled vs. Naturalistic Experiments: Application of the Life Table Method 7 Myrna M. Weissman CHAPTER 2 The Psychiatric Case Register: A Versatile Device for the Application of Multiple Methodological Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Haroutun M. Babigian and Dolores B. Jones CHAPTER 3 A Survey of Issues Related to the Analysis of Observational Data in Longitudinal Research . . 43 John E.

Providing fresh insights into the complex relationship between stress and mental health, internationally recognized contributors identifie emerging conceptual issues, highlight promising avenues for further study, and detail novel methodological techniques for addressing contemporary empirical problems. Specific coverage includes stressful life events, chronic strains, psychosocial resources and mediators, vulnerability to stress, and mental health outcomes-thus providing researchers with a tool to take stock of the past and future of this field.

"Like a Bridge over Troubled Waters" The surge of current interest in the interface between clinical and social psychology is well illustrated by the publication of a number of general texts and journals in this area, and the growing emphasis in graduate programs on providing training in both disciplines. Although the bene fits of an integrated clinical-social approach have been recognized for a number of years, the recent work in this area has advanced from the oretical extrapolations of social psychological models to clinical issues to theory and research that is based on social principles and conducted in clinical domains. It is becoming increasingly common to find social psy chologists pursuing research with clinical populations and clinical psy chologists investigating variables that have traditionally been in the realm of social psychology. A major area of interface between the two disciplines is in research and theory concerned with how individuals respond to negative events. In addition to the trend toward an integrated clinical-social approach, the growing body of literature in this area reflects the explosion of cur rent interest in the area of health psychology; work by clinical and social psychologists on the topics of stress and coping has been one of the major facets of this burgeoning field. The purpose of the present volume is to provide a common forum for recent advances in the clinical and social literature on responses to negative life outcomes.