Keith J. Petrie is associate professor at the University of Auckland.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Perceptions of health and illness / John A. Weinman & Keith J. Petrie -- Illness representations : theoretical foundations / Howard Leventhal [and others] -- Children's perceptions of health and illness / Christine Eiser & Sheryl J. Kopel -- Are there differences in perceptions of illness across the lifespan? / Elaine A. Leventhal & Melissa Crouch -- Measurement of illness perceptions in patients with chronic somatic illnesses : a review / Margreet Scharloo & Adrian Kaptein -- Representations of medication and treatment : advances in theory and measurement / Robert Horne --Representations of disability / Marie Johnston -- Cognitive representations and preventative health behaviour : a review / Charles Abraham & Paschal Sheeran -- Illness representations after the human genome project : the perceived role of genes in causing illness / Theresa M. Marteau & Vicky Senior -- Processing risk factor information : defensive biases in health-related judgments and memory / Robert T. Croyle, Yi-Chun Sun & Marybeth Hart -- Screening for cancer : illness perceptions and illness worry / Linda D. Cameron -- Illness representations and the self-management of diabetes / Sarah E. Hampson -- Self regulation and psycho-educational interventions for rheumatic disease / Theo J. Pimm -- Illness representations and breast cancer : coping with radiation and chemotherapy / Deanna L. Buick -- The role of illness cognitions and coping in the aetiology and maintenance of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) / Rona Moss-Morris -- Illness representations and recovery from myocardial infarction / Keith J. Petrie & John A. Weinman -- Virtual narratives : illness representations in online support groups / Kathryn P. Davison & James W. Pennebaker.

The study of how individuals perceive and make sense of health and illness is a new and rapidly developing area in health psychology. The field has seen important recent theoretical developments and applications to a wide range of health threats and illnesses. The first section of this book examines the current theoretical and measurement issues in the field and includes issues related to illness perceptions across the lifespan, disability, and the assessment of illness perceptions in chronic illness. The second section addresses the role of illness perceptions in health screening and prevention and includes work on perceptions of genetic disease, cancer screening, and how individuals process health risk information. The third section is concerned with the application of the illness perceptions approach to patients with chronic illness and those undergoing treatment. Illnesses examined using this approach include chronic fatigue syndrome, breast cancer, diabetes, and myocardial infarction.