This comprehensive reference delves into the complex process of medical decision making-both
the nuts-and-bolts access and insurance issues that guide choices and the cognitive and
affective factors that can make patients decide against their best interests. Wide-ranging
coverage offers a robust evidence base for understanding decision making across the lifespan
among family members in the context of evolving healthcare systems and in the face of
life-changing diagnosis. The section on applied decision making reviews the effectiveness of
decision-making tools in healthcare featuring real-world examples and guidelines for tailored
communications with patients. Throughout contributors spotlight the practical importance of
the field and the pressing need to strengthen health decision-making skills on both sides of
the clinician client dyad. Among the Handbook's topics: From laboratory to clinic and back:
connecting neuroeconomic and clinical mea sures of decision-making dysfunctions. Strategies to
promote the maintenance of behavior change: moving from theoretical principles to practices.
Shared decision making and the patient-provider relationship. Overcoming the many pitfalls of
communicating risk. Evidence-based medicine and decision-making policy. The internet social
media and health decision making. The Handbook of Health Decision Science will interest a wide
span of professionals among them health and clinical psychologists behavioral researchers
health policymakers and sociologists.
