Media Reviews

Medication and Dementiaby Karen Gurling, Joan Kelly, CaroleRamsey, Cesar Rodriguez.Dementia Services Development Centre,Stirling, 32 pages, £5á50, ISBN 1 85769133 4.

Like most publications from this stable,this is a readable and useful bookletwhich will ®nd utility amongst practi-tioners and lay carers of people withdementia. The ®rst chapter describesdementia and the second chapter differ-entiates it from acute confusional statesand how they may be treated. Chapter 3introduces some features of medicationwhich are common to older peoplebefore the treatments for dementia arepresented in chapter 4. The treatmentof dementia chapter incorporates NICEguidelines but could have been writtenin a more accessible way and couldhave been more honest about the lackof ef®cacy of the acetylcholinesteraseinhibitors.

The noncognitive aspects of dementiaare covered well and the message is that,with the appropriate precautions, it ispossible to makes things better. Neuro-leptics pose a particular danger to peo-ple with dementia with Lewy bodiestherefore this aspect of treatment isgiven a separate chapter. I was sur-prised, given the stable, at the use of theterm `compliance' in the ®nal chapterwhich is about increasing compliancewith medication in older people. Thecurrent term is `adherence' but, never-theless, the chapter ± while not reallyspeci®c to dementia ± covers the mainpoints very well. The booklet is mod-estly priced and adds to the usefulcollection of such booklets from theDementia Services Development Centrein Stirling.

Roger WatsonMedia Reviews Editor

Learning to Theorize: A Four StepStrategyedited by Dennis E. Mithaug.Sage, Thousands Oaks, 2000, 180pages, £38á60, ISBN 0 761 90980 X.

Learning how to theorize is an issuethat concerns most postgraduate stu-dents, particularly doctoral students.Therefore this text appeared promisingat ®rst glance. However, it provedotherwise as this text is quite dif®cultto read and understand with one read-ing. The main focus is on constructivetheorizing which is similar to problem-solving, practical reasoning and self-regulated learning. The four stepsinvolved in constructive theorizing areoutlined in the initial chapters andcontrasted with existing methods oftheorizing. The chapters 3, 4 and 5uses empirical, moral and policy rea-soning to address the issue of `how dothings work for people in need' andto illustrate the four step constructivetheorizing model. The credibility andworth of each new theory is assessedby six criteria: coherence, validity, veri-®ability, signi®cance, scope and utility.The text concludes with three examplesthat the reader can use to practice thismethod of theorizing.

To the author's credit, he uses tables,charts and diagrams throughout the textto illustrate and explain the content.Repetition and summarization is alsoused to help maintain the reader's focusand comprehension. Nevertheless, thistext remains very cumbersome to readbecause of the complex typologies intables, complex arguments and the over-use of repetition. Some nurse doctoralstudents may ®nd this text helpful withthe analysis, construction, and evalua-tion of theories. However, there arecurrently more user-friendly books ontheorizing that employ nursing exam-ples and thus are more applicable to

nursing. It may be helpful to have a copyof this text in nursing libraries but Iwould not recommend this book forpurchase.

Imelda CoyneDublin City University, Ireland

Surveying the Social Worldby Alan Aldridge and Ken Levine.Open University Press, Buckingham,2001, 196 pages, £16á99, ISBN 0 33520240 3.

I was immediately attracted to this bookby the fact that the series editor wasAlan Bryman, the series being theOpen University's Understanding SocialResearch in which there are currentlythree other titles. Bryman is one half of theBryman and Cramer partnership whichwrote and regularly updates the most userfriendly guide to SPSS published by Rout-ledge. I was not disappointed.

The book is written in a highlyaccessible style and the ®rst two chap-ters alone constitute an excellent tutorialon the use of survey methods withoutgetting down to the details of design andanalysis which come later. The authorsare described on the cover as having a`can do' mentality and, while not throw-ing caution to the wind, they certainlyavoid the perfection at all costsapproach which so often leads to in-action on behalf of so called `experts' inresearch. The usual outcome is to para-lyse action in those novices who come toconsult them and this book provides themuch needed shot of con®dence thatmany novice researchers require.

When the book gets down to detail itis no less accessible and presents anarray of sensible advice about producingquestionnaires and using them to collectdata. The chapter on samples and samp-ling is one of the best I have read and,while introducing the reader to theconcept of power analysis, it is unique

402 Ó 2002 Blackwell Science Ltd

in actually suggesting a minimum ®gurefor the numbers needed in any group orsubgroup which may be analysed. Thechapter on analysis suggests taking astrategic approach to data analysis and,as this is the point at which many PhDstudents begin to panic, the book maybecome invaluable to this group. Insummary, I recommend this book highlyand intend to make sure that it is on thelibrary shelves.

Roger WatsonMedia Reviews Editor

Community Care: A Readeredited by Joanna Bornat, Julia Johnson,Charmaine Pereira, David Pilgrim,Fiona Williams.Macmillan, London, 368 pages, £16á99,ISBN 0 333 69847 9.

Bringing together an anthology demandsskills of judgement and imagination. It isall too easy to elevate certain themes andto prefer experts to lay voices. Thisreader is an excellent collection whichmixes policy analysis with service userexperiences. It stands the test of time.The collection is organized around fourmain themes; community, care, policyand practice. All sections start with acollection of key extracts, some veryshort and possibly needing further con-textualizing. The main chapters or con-tributions are well-edited extracts, in themain, from research or academic wri-ting. Accounts from service users balancethese academic approaches.

One strength of this book is its his-torical perspective and a broad inter-

pretation of what constitutes history.Another is an emphasis on race andethnicity. Both are underpinned by aninterpretation of community care asrelevant to all user groups, althoughthis collection is focused on adults.Produced as a set book for the OpenUniversity, this book is relevant to thoseundertaking training or research. It pre-sents a critical edge to community careby paying attention to the experiences ofthose at the receiving end as users orcarers.

Jill ManthorpeUniversity of Hull, UK

Using Research for Effective HealthPromotionedited by Sandy Oliver and GreetPeersman.Open University Press, Buckingham,2001, 200 pages, £16á99, ISBN 0 33520870 3.

This is a sorely needed book within asorely neglected aspect of health carepractice. As the book clearly highlights ±health promotion research is a sadlyneglected activity within most healthservice arenas. It is especially lackingwithin nursing settings. I have argued,for a number of years now, that nursing-related health promotion activities arenot applied effectively or successfully inpractice. One of the main reasons forthis is the lack of appropriate researchthat looks to monitor and evaluate ourhealth promotion initiatives. Conse-quently, this book has the potential toprovide an invaluable resource for nur-

ses and other health care professionalsinterested in delivering health promo-tion strategies.

The book clearly and succinctly pre-sents many aspects of the rationales andprocesses needed to conduct health pro-motion research. It covers a wide varietyof topics from a wide range of differentauthor viewpoints and settings. Refer-ence to previous and on-going studiesassists the reader to place potentialresearch activity into context. It is awell written text throughout andpitched at a level that is appropriatefor those who are conversant withhealth promotion practice. There is,however, enough supporting commentto allow a less knowledgeable reader todip in and out of this text. My criticismsare few. In parts, some sections are alittle brief and thus some topics areskipped over. There is also perhaps toomuch emphasis on young peoples'health at the expense of other groups.Nevertheless, what is contained is bothrelevant and useful.

This is an excellent resource for thosewho are serious about implementingeffective health promotion initiativesinto practice. I would recommend it,however, to all nurses and all nurseinstitutions ± both clinical and educa-tional. This is especially in light of thefact that this is such a poorly neglectedpart of nursing practice and needs ad-dressing at all levels.

Dean WhiteheadUniversity of Plymouth, UK

Ó 2002 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 37(4), 402±403 403

Media Reviews