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734 Prevention Practice: Strategies for physical therapy and occupational therapy by Jeffrey Rothman and Ruth Levine. W B Saunders and Co (British distributor: Harcourt Brace Javanovich Ltd, Foots Cray High Street, Sidcup, Kent DA14 5HP), 1992 (ISBN 0 7216 3261 0). ///us. 515 pages. f39. This book has been put together as a guide to occupational therapists and physiotherapists who want to incorporate the concept and the application of prevention into their daily practice. Although designed as a guide for practitioners in the USA, Canada and the UK, it has a very strong American slant. For example, the first chapter on ‘Promoting health through public policy’ is for the American audience. The book is split into four parts: ‘Promoting a healthy lifestyle’, ‘Prevention and treatment strategies for specific problems’, ‘Workplace and environment’ and ‘Issues for the therapist and educator’. The second section, on strategies for specific problems, would be the main area of interest in the clinical situation. For example, prevention and management of lower back pain; prevention and rehabilitation of sports injuries. This is a good section and the application to GB is on the whole appropriate. Perhaps more on mental health would have improved this section. The third section has interesting issues in ergonomics, corporate fitness and prevention of industrial injuries. The case studies are useful and have made the text more ‘alive’. The fourth section throws up many ethical, behavioural and evaluative issues. With the changes in health promotion and marketing in the UK this section is very well done and of value. In general the book is well integrated. It covers vast areas within health and prevention. The presentation is good, with clear illustration and charts. The book will be a must in education when these areas are now being highlighted. Physiotherapists and occupational therapists who are interested in specific areas or in the philosophy of prevention and health promotion would find it useful. Morag Thow BSc MCSP DipPE Psychosocial Interventions with Physically Disabled Persons edited by Bruce W HelIer PhD, Louis M Flohr MD and Leonard S Zegans MD. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, 1992 (ISBN 1 85302051 6). 259 pages. f 13.99. This wide-ranging book investigates the psychosocial impact of physical disability on disabled people and their families. It addresses these issues in the context of professional practice. The topics include assessment, psychosocial adjustment to spinal cord injury, facial disfigurement, sexuality, ethics, and the Disabled Persons’ Movement in the USA, to name but a few. It does not cover visual or hearing disability. The main purpose of the book is to inform health and rehabilitation profes- sionals of these psychosocial issues. It is largely theoretical, though easy to follow, and is addressed mainly to psychologists, though most of the issues are relevant to physiotherapists. The section on assessment, for example, deals with the measurement of cognitive abilities, such as memory and attention span; affective states, such as anxiety and depression; and the problem of differentiating physical, cognitive and emotional states following brain damage. Many of the chapters challenge stereotyped views and misconceptions about disabled peogle, for example, that they inevitably go through a period of grief when acquiring an impairment, or that disability is necessarily psycholo- gically damaging. Personally, I would have liked more space to be given to the physical and social barriers disabled people face and how such barriers impact on their psychological state. These issues were not, however, entirely neglected. It is a well-organisedbook which is easy to read. The fact that it was written in the USA, where practice and legislation differ to that in Britain, is not, in my view, a major problem. I was, however, very disappointed by the extensive but out-of- date reference lists - only approximately 10% of the references were later than 1984. This would make me reluctant to use the book for teaching purposes or to recommend it to students. The language was also dated, including such terms as ‘handicapped’ and ‘the disabled’. I think specific chapters in this book could be useful to physiotherapists working in particular specialties, and the book may also be useful to students, particularly in their final year, when carrying out specific projects which may involve some of the issues raised. Sally French MSc (Psych) MSc (SOC) BSc DipGradPhys DipTP The examples given only use the one approach which may be thought unnecesarily complicated for a novice. There is a helpful section on measure. ment techniques. An example of the use of POMR would help to clarify the text. Action plans are described with clear directions on how to implement them. A comprehensive glossary of terms and a useful reading list are included in the book. Sections of this book will be helpful to those with no knowledge or under- standing of quality, but it is a pity that the emphasis is on the nursing process, with few examples relating to the other professions. Ann Hunter MA FCSP - Physiotherapy, October 1992, vol78, no 10 Quality Assurance: An introduction for health care professionals project co-ordinators Christine C Wright and Dorothy Whittington. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 1992 (ISBN 0 443 04681 6). 136 pages. f 19.95. This workbook is well designed to allow readers to participate actively in learning about quality. The first two sections covering quality and quality assurance are extremely helpful for anyone new to the field. The book is nurse-oriented and uses the dynamic standard setting system which assumes the structure process and outcome to be interdependent and the outcome the end result of the process rather than a change in health status of the patient. In physiotherapy the national standards are distinct from the structure of the service, the process and the outcome. Unit two is concerned with assessing and improving quality and gives good practical guidance on how to get started. Peter Bowker PhD The Manufacture and Use of the Functional Foot Orthosis by Raymond J Anthony FPodA MChS SRCh. S Karger AG, Allschwilerstrasse 10, PO Box Postfach, CH-4009, Basel, Switzerland, 1997 (ISBN 3 8055 5298 X). IIIus. 220 pages. f86.10 (subject to change). This is a book written for those who already have a working knowledge of the abnormally functioning foot and who want a detailed manual describing the prescription and manufacture of the functional foot orthosis. It is a book written by an experienced podiatrist which will be of value to younger members of that profession and perhaps particularly to the technical staff who actually manufacture foot orthobes. As a working manual it is excellent. It covers assessment, prescription, manufacture and fitting in great detail using clear text which is amply illustrated using both photographs and line drawings. It is a book which has been prepared with great care. It is disappointing however in that it makes no attempt to rationalise the use of functional foot orthoses in terms of their biomechanical effects, but rather adopts an empirical approach in which the reader is instructed or advised very much on the basis of the experience of the author. This is a pity; functional foot orthoses represent an important means of managing a wide range of lower limb symptoms associated with structural misalignments in the foot, but our expertise in their use can surely evolve soundly only if it is based on a thorough understanding of how and why they work. However, this criticism apart, by its very nature this book is of little direct relevance to members of other pro- fessional groups who are not directly involved in writing detailed prescriptions for foot orthoses or in their manufacture or fitting. It does not pretend to provide guidance for clinicians or therapists regarding the patients or pathologies which should be referred to a podiatrist for detailed assessment and possibly prescription. It is therefore likely to be of little interest to physiotherapists.
