Book: Control and the Psychology of Heatlh

I recently ran across a book that could prove to be of interest to RT scholars. It is Control and the Psychology of Health by Jan Walker. The book was published in 2001 by Open University Press.

Chapters include: control concepts, perceived control, locus of control, self-efficacy, learned helplessness, social support, emotional states, and a unifying theory of control. These are all topics that should be of interest to scholars in RT.

As you may know, control is a topic dear to my heart. I have long held that control is a key concept in RT. After all, in what part of their lives do people enjoy more control that in recreation and leisure? Control is certainly a core feature of my Health Protection/Health Promotion Model.

In fact, I felt control to be so important that I wrote a chapter titled "Control: A Major Element in Therapeutic Recreation," which appeared in the book Conceptual Foundations for Therapeutic Recreation (2002, Venture Publishing) that I did with John Dattilo and Bryan McCormick.

I just had lunch with my IU colleagues, Marieke, Youngkhill, and Bryan, and told them about Walker's book. They were very interested in it and wanted to know more about it -- so I thought others might also share their interest. Thus, I am passing along the information via this post.