Infertility; Psychological Issues and Counseling Strategies.

Infertility; Psychological Issues and Counseling Strategies. Edited by Sandra R. Leiblum. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997.278 pp. $37.95 hardback, ISBN ISBNabbr.International Standard Book NumberISBNInternational Standard Book NumberISBNn abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m0-471-12684-5. Infertility: Psychological Issues and Counseling Strategies is acomprehensive review and discussion of the issues related toinfertility, which affects 15 percent of U.S. couples. Chapters coverall the issues with which a therapist in practice with infertile in��fer��tileadj.Not capable of initiating, sustaining, or supporting reproduction.infertile,adj unable to produce offspring. coupleswould need to be familiar, including diagnostic procedures, newproductive technologies, emotional responses and problems experienced byinfertile couples, and the ethical dilemmas that may be confronted inpractice in a reproductive treatment setting. Although the book does notpresent specific original therapeutic techniques for this population,applications of existing therapeutic principles are illustratedparticularly well with interesting case examples and discussion.Finally, three chapters are devoted to the critical issues ofterminating infertility treatment, including a relatively briefdiscussion of adoption and related issues. This book integrates the scientific research and clinical materialwell, presenting technical medical discussions clearly for thenonmedical, highly educated group that will be interested in this topic.Although the data on "cutting-edge" technology and currentsuccess rates of the various procedures will be outdated very quickly,they provide the practitioner a good grounding for working with couplesas they weigh the costs against the potential benefits of availabletechnologies. The discussions about the ethics of assisted reproduction areparticularly important, as the development of new options requires bothpractitioners and would-be parents to confront issues to which they mayhave previously given no thought. Some issues are particularly familiarto social workers (for example, questions of distributive justice asthey relate to the high cost of many procedures and their resultingunavailability to all but the affluent); they are issues that cannot beleft to agency or program policy alone. For social workers, it wouldhave been helpful for the book to include discussions of ethicalprinciples of professions other than medicine. Although many of thesubstantive issues are similar, social workers' responsibility tothe family as a client unit and to disadvantaged clients may call foradditional focus on some of these issues. The other area of this book that is inadequate for the needs of thesocial worker in practice with infertile patients is the chapter onadoption. This limitation is perhaps inevitable, given the scope ofcoverage and the fact that most practitioners in the area of infertilitywould refer families on to an adoption agency when the time arises.However, to help patients make the decision and prepare them to move onto adoption, the social worker in this area needs to read well beyondthis brief, though informative, introduction to adoption, particularlyabout the process of applying and being studied for adoption. Only two issues mar an otherwise very useful book. First, mostchapters include no references from the social work literature. Thechapter on ethics, for example, includes no references from social workalthough there are some excellent ones. This chapter also fails to placethese questions in a broader ethical framework, which would be helpfulto social workers in generalizing from medical to social work ethics.Second, errors in spelling and mechanics ("revelant" insteadof "relevant"), while more and more common, even withreputable publishers, result in a loss of credibility with some readers. Terri Combs-Orme College of Social Work and Children's MentalHealth Services Research Health services research is the multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviors affect access to health care, the quality and cost of health care, Center University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (UT), sometimes called the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UT Knoxville or UTK), is the flagship institution of the statewide land-grant University of Tennessee public university system in the American state of Tennessee. Knoxville RELEVANT BOOKS RECEIVED Beaglehole, R., & Bonita Bonita (Spanish and Portuguese for "beautiful") is the name of: Bonita Magazine, an international men's magazine Bonita, California Bonita, Louisiana , R. (1997). Public health at thecrossroads: Achievements and prospects. New York: Cambridge UniversityPress Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP) is a publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534, and one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). . Butler, R., Lewis, M., & Sunderland, T. (1998). Aging andmental health: Positive psychosocial and biomedical bi��o��med��i��caladj.1. Of or relating to biomedicine.2. Of, relating to, or involving biological, medical, and physical sciences. approaches (5thed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Falk, U., & Falk, G. (1997). Ageism ageismGeriatrics A bias or belief that may be held by a health care provider that depression, forgetfulness, and other disorders are a normal part of aging and that older individuals will not benefit from treatment of mental disorders. Cf elderly. , the aged and aging inAmerica: On being old in an alienated society. Springfield, IL: CharlesC Thomas. Field, D., & Hockey, J. (1997). Death, gender and ethnicity.New York: Routledge. Friedman, S. (1997). Cultural issues in the treatment of anxiety.New York: Guilford Press. Holosko, M., & Feit, M. (1997). Health and poverty. Binghamton,NY: Haworth Press. Klein, W, & Bloom, M. (1997). Successful aging: Strategies forhealthy living. New York: Plenum. Lai-wan Chan, C., & Rhind, N. (1997). Social work interventionin health care: The Hong Kong scene. Hong Kong: Hong Kong UniversityPress. Lee, E. (1997). Working with Asian Americans: A guide forclinicians. New York: Guilford Press. Loustaunau, M., & Sobo, E. (1998). The cultural context ofhealth, illness, and medicine. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Mccarthy, E, & Loren, J. (1997). Breast cancer? Let me check myschedule! Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Plant, M. (1997). Women and alcohol: Contemporary and historicalperspectives. 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