Editorial

this i s sue marks the Journal of Health Psychology’s fourth year of publication. The Journal of Health Psychology aims to provide an interdisciplinary and international forum for high-quality research in health psychology. To date, a wide range of papers from 17 countries has been published. The Journal of Health Psychology receives around 150 submissions per year of which approximately one-fifth can be accepted for publication. It is Journal of Health Psychology policy to encourage theoretical analyses, commentary, discussion and debate, to provide a platform for new qualitative and/or critical perspectives, and to reflect the social significance of health psychology. The current issue exemplifies these aims. The first article in this issue by Leonard A. Jason, Karen M. Jordan and colleagues presents ‘A Community-based Study of Prolonged Fatigue and Chronic Fatigue’. This major new epidemiological study presents data on the point prevalence of fatigue among a random community sample of 28,673 Chicago residents. The authors are a multidisciplinary research group representing epidemiology, biostatistics, survey research and psychology. Unlike many other studies, the Chicago study determined the rate of fatigue in a large, diverse community sample encompassing the complete range of socioeconomic and ethnic groups. Higher fatigue levels were evident in women, people with children, individuals who were separated, people with lower educational levels, people with lower occupational status and Native Americans. The Jordan Study findings are consistent with data on health variations reported in the Special Issue of the Journal published in 1997. These new epidemiological data raise significant questions about the nature, mechanisms and prevalence of fatigue and carry implications for health care systems and public health policy. The data on the high levels of fatigue found among women are highly relevant to the discussion of ‘Health, Stress and Coping among Women Caregivers: A Review’ by Christina Lee at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Christina Lee’s timely article argues that the primary informal carers of people with chronic conditions are frequently women and that there is evidence of increased risk factors for serious illness and other outcomes of burden among women who are in a carer role. Lee argues that the individual-level focus of much of current research tends ‘to obscure the social and cultural forces underlying the fact that the majority of family caregivers are women’ suggesting a need for more attention by health psychologists to public policy issues affecting women in the carer role. Sheina Orbell’s Commentary on Christina Lee’s article argues that psychological research, and in particular a social–cognitive approach, can make a meaningful contribution to the development of public policy and health and community care practice. The debate concerning the psychological, social and economic issues raised by informal care will continue in future issues of the Journal. The need for policy-level interventions is suggested in the domain of child safety in the inner cities. Rachael Dixey’s report on ‘Keeping Children Safe: The Effect on Parents’ Daily Lives and Psychological Well-being’ is a qualitative study of mothers on a housing estate in Leeds, UK giving voice to their concerns about child safety. This study is based on the fact that parents, especially mothers, are needing to spend considerable amounts of time keeping their children safe from traffic, violence, drugs and abduction. While environmental measures have been employed in some European countries, in the UK and the USA reliance is placed on parental supervision, particularly in the more deprived and heavily built-up inner city estates. Rachael Dixey’s study indicates the emergence of a surveillance culture in which each individual submits to self-surveillance and ‘it is the individual (and his or her lifestyle) that is to Journal of Health Psychology Copyright g 1999 SAGE Publications London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi, [1359–1053(199901)4:1] Vol 4(1) 5–8; 006555