Intended to assist Agency for International Development (AID) officers, advisors, and health officials in incorporating health planning into national plans for economic development, this fourth of ten manuals in the International Health Planning Methods Series deals with sociocultural, psychological, and behavioral factors that affect the planning and delivery of health care services in developing countries. Following a brief introduction (chapter 1), chapter 2 describes medical belief systems (definitions of health and illness) in Central and South America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The first part of chapter 3 then discribes the principles operating behind the factors and how the factors function. In the second half hanging behavior is addressed. Chapter 4 outlines the fundamental concepts and concerns of an assessment. Chapter 5 offers practical information on methods of collecting sociocultural, psychological, and behavioral data: how to conduct research, possible problems, and solutions to them. The last chapter discusses obstacles to the transfer of medical technology and methods of overcoming them. It closes with a set of specific questions to be used in guiding an assessment. (A supporting document in the International Health Reference Series containing a literature review and annotated bibliography is available separately as CE 024 226.) (YLB)