BSSR in the News

Patricia L. Mabry, Ph.D. has been appointed to serve as acting deputy director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  As Acting Deputy Director, Dr. Mabry will develop policies, program directions, and procedures surrounding the administration of interdisciplinary research and will represent the Office at conferences, seminars and other scientific meetings. Dr. Mabry will also manage many of the day to day activities of the Office, supervise the scientific staff, and will continue to lead scientific projects.Continue...

At present, there are many studies that collect information on aspects of neurologic and behavioral function (cognition, sensation, movement, emotion), but with little uniformity among the measures used to capture these constructs. Further, available measures are generally expensive, normed on homogenous nondiverse populations, not easily administered, do not cover the lifespan (or have easily linked pediatric and adult counterparts for the purposes of longitudinal comparison), and not based on the current thinking in the neuroscience community. There is also a paucity of measurement tools to gauge normal children in the motor and sensation domain areas, and many of these measures rely heavily on proxy reporting. Investigators have expressed the need for brief assessment tools that could address these issues and be used as a form of "common currency" across diverse study designs and populations. This ability to assess functionality along a common metric and "crosswalk" across measures is essential to the process of being able to pool data, which is often necessary when a large and diverse sample is needed. When individual studies employ unique assessment batteries, comparisons between studies and combining data from multiple studies can be problematic. The contract for the NIH Toolbox for the Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function (www.nihtoolbox.org) was initiated by the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research (www.neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov) to develop a set of state-of-the-art measurement tools to enhance collection of data in large cohort studies and to advance the biomedical research enterprise. Continue...

Recent and ongoing research suggests exciting possibilities for the therapeutic use of art to improve the health and well-being of older adults. As this population grows in number and as a proportion of all Americans, it will experience dramatic increases in the number of people with aging-related health conditions, including cognitive decline and dementia. Continue...

Mobile health (mHealth) seeks to improve individuals’ health and well-being by continuously monitoring their status, rapidly diagnosing medical conditions, recognizing behaviors, and delivering just-in-time interventions, all in the user’s natural mobile environment. Continue...

The science of dissemination and implementation (D&I) is advancing the knowledge base for how best to integrate evidence-based interventions within clinical and community settings and how to recast the nature or conduct of the research itself to make it more relevant and actionable in those settings. While the field is growing, there are only a few training programs for D&I research; this is an important avenue to help build the field’s capacity. To improve the United States' capacity for D&I research, the National Institutes of Health and Veterans Health Administration collaborated to develop a five-day training institute for postdoctoral level applicants aspiring to advance this science. Continue...

NIH’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) launches The Connector, a new blog featuring OBSSR Director Dr. Robert M. Kaplan’s commentary, Director Connection.Continue...

This supplement was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Behavioral Research Program, in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. The impetus for the supplement came from the 2-1-1 Health Research Working Group, a group of scientists and 2-1-1 systems leaders from across the U.S., who were convened with support from the Centers of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research initiative and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network.Continue...

The United States spends much more money on health care than any other country. Yet Americans die sooner and experience more illness than residents in many other countries. While the length of life has improved in the United States, other countries have gained life years even faster, and our relative standing in the world has fallen over the past half century.Continue...

This supplement was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Behavioral Research Program, in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. The impetus for the supplement came from the 2-1-1 Health Research Working Group, a group of scientists and 2-1-1 systems leaders from across the U.S., who were convened with support from the Centers of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research initiative and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network.Continue...

Integrating Economic Analysis into NIH Funded Research, was held on September 11, 2012 by the NIH Health Economics Common Fund. In this webinar, three invited experts explored ways of integrating economic analyses into clinical research. A well-designed study of acute coronary syndrome and depression was re-examined in light of economic concepts and analysis. A lively and enlightening conversation among the featured speakers ensued concerning how economic analysis could be integrated into clinical research at the study design phase and the advantages of that for clinical research. Speakers concluded the webinar by addressing questions from online participants. Continue...

Dr. Quinn's work focuses on mHealth approaches aimed at managing diabetes, but her message is relevant to all of us who'd like to use our smart phones, iPads, and other mobile devices to improve our health. Continue...

Behavior and social factors play key roles in illness and health. NIH has released new videos that highlight outstanding findings in behavioral and social science research.

“Understanding our behavior and making better decisions puts us in charge of our own health,” says Dr. Robert Kaplan, director of NIH’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. “These short films highlight some of the benefits of behavioral and social science research—both for us as individuals and for society as a whole.”Continue...