Health Psychology

Regan A. R. Gurung is professor of psychological sciences at Oregon State University. He was on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay (UWGB) for 20 years, where he was the Ben J. and Joyce Rosenberg Professor of Human Development and Psychology. He received a BA at Carleton College (Minnesota) and a PhD at the University of Washington. He then spent three years at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has published articles in a variety of scholarly journals, including Psychological Review and Teaching of Psychology. His textbook, Health ­Psychology: A Cultural Approach (SAGE, 2023) is in its fifth edition, and he has coauthored/edited 15 other books, including Study Like a Champ (APA, 2023) and Transforming Introductory Psychology (APA, 2023). He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the Midwestern Psychological Association. He has won the Founder’s Award for Excellence in Teaching as well as of the Founder’s Award for Scholarship at UWGB, and he was also the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Wisconsin Professor of the Year (2009) and the UW System Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award winner. In August 2017, he received the American Psychological Foundation’s Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award, the highest award given to teachers of psychology in America, and he is the 2024 Oregon State University Margaret and Thomas Meehan Honors College Eminent Mentor. He is past president of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology and past president of Psi Chi, the international honor society in psychology. He is founding coeditor of the APA journal, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology. In January 2025, he was named a Psi Chi Distinguished Member, the highest honor bestowed by the international honor society in psychology.

• Chapter 1. What Is Health? Cultural and Historical RootsChapter 2. Doing Health Psychology: Research MethodsChapter 3. Cultural Approaches to Health - Deepti KarkhanisChapter 4. Essential PhysiologyChapter 5. Diverse Understandings of Stress - Deepti KarkhanisChapter 6. Coping and Social Support - Deepti KarkhanisChapter 7. Why Don’t We Do What We Need To? Models of Behavior Change - Amanda ElBassiounyChapter 8. Health Behaviors: Eating, Being Active, Smoking, and Drinking - Aurora ShermanChapter 9. Illness Cognitions, Adherence, and Patient–Practitioner Interactions - Amanda ElBassiounyChapter 10. Diverse Approaches to Pain - Amanda ElBassiounyChapter 11. Chronic Illness, Terminal Illness, and Death - Kathleen BogartChapter 12. Psychoneuroimmunology and HIV - Melissa OxladChapter 13. Cancer: Fundamentals and Cultural Variations - Melissa OxladChapter 14. Cardiovascular Disease: Fundamentals and Cultural Variations - Melissa OxladChapter 15. Controversies and the Future of Health Psychology