ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with overview of health and well-being by exploring health determinants identified in earlier civilizations, such as those in the Indus Valley and ancient China, Egypt, and Greece. It provides the historical review by examining the impact of spiritual beliefs on health in Western Europe during the middle ages and afterward during the Renaissance. The chapter reviews three of the models used by health psychologists: the biopsychosocial model, the wellness model, and the social ecological model. It discusses research that explores the role of biological, social, and environmental factors, and health systems and the health policies on individual health outcomes. The chapter explores the contributions of health psychologists in explaining and changing individual health outcomes. It summarizes the changes over time and across cultures in the concepts and determinants of health. The biopsychosocial model and the wellness model identify specific psychological, sociological, and for the wellness model, spiritual factors that, researchers suggest, influence health outcomes.
