Behavioral Science (Board Review Series) [Paperback]

Barbara Fadem (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 237 pages
• Publisher: Williams & Wilkins; 2 Sub edition (March 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0683029533
• ISBN-13: 978-0683029536
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,923,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Barbara Fadem was born and grew up in New York City. She earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in zoology, subspecialty psychobiology, from Rutgers University and then joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at U.M.D.N.J. - New Jersey Medical School (NJMS). She has been a full professor at NJMS since 1994 and has published more than 40 basic research articles in such varied fields as behavioral neuroendocrinology and medical student education. Her first book, "BRS Behavioral Science," is now in its 5th edition and remains very popular with medical students studying for USMLE - Step 1. Her textbook, "Behavioral Science in Medicine," is used as a course text in medical schools in the United States as well as offshore.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A very negative opinion on one particular chapter, August 29, 1999

By 

Semyon Tsynkov ([e-mail]) (Tel Aviv, Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Behavioral Science (Board Review Series) (Paperback)

Being a professor of mathematics, I obviously cannot asses the overall quality of the book. However, I read Chapter 22 on statistical methods and unfortunately found it below any criticism. I certainly understand that this kind of material should be presented to medical students with a substantially lower level of rigor than, say, to mathematical students. However, the extent of simplification and watering everything down in the book is unproportional even from this standpoint. In many cases this leads to absolutely meaningless explanations -- those of the kind that may obscure and alter the true essence of a given concept. I think, for example, that after reading this chapter an average unprepared person will be more confused regarding the concepts of probability and distribution of probabilities than he or she would have been with just using normal common sense, with no reading at all. Besides, I found the definition of odds ratio (page 183) extremely unclear, especially as to its connection to relative risk. Moreover, the calculations in Example 22-1 have a very different meaning compared to what the author implies, and the claim that the quantity calculated in this example has anything to do with the concept of the risk addressed on the previous page of the book (page 182) is simply incorrect. Summarizing, I must say that if there is hope for the general population to benefit (or at least not get into trouble) from the studies in medical statistics, then these studies should be conducted with as little reference to the aforementioned book as possible.