Holistic Stoma Care is a holistic, person-centered textbook concerning the immediate nursing care of all patients with the complete range of stomas, before, during and after surgery. Special emphasis is placed on socio-cultural and psychological aspects. The books approach is to move away from the bio-medical view point that is taught in nursing and medicine today. This enables the nurse to care for the patient as a whole, not just for the stoma. It endeavours to help the reader conceptualise the patients idea of disease and illness and its outcome. Body image change after enterostomal surgery is transcultural, but the extent to which change affects the individual and limits their fulfillment of social roles is culturally variable. The book is divided into sections covering areas such as bowel cancer and inflammatory bowel disease resulting in a stoma, adjuvant therapies and how, overall, they may have an effect on the patient and the current trials that the patient may be asked to enter, and the development, role, research and ethics in stoma care today.