News and Events

Archived Content

The Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR) archives materials older than three years that are no longer updated. This content is available for historical purposes, and the information and links may have changed over time.

April 13, 2017

Director's Voice

Opioid Abuse is a Behavioral and
Social Systems Problem. Opioid Abuse has rapidly become a public health epidemic. The CDC reports that while the amount of overall pain that patients report has not changed, the amount of prescription opioids sold in the U.S. has quadrupled since 1999. Deaths from opioid overdose increased 200 percent between 2000 and 2014, and opioids are the leading cause of drug overdose in this country. The prescribing of opioids is a behavior that occurs in social context.

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Hot Topics

Behavioral and Social Sciences in the News

Neuroscience Needs Behavior: Correcting a Reductionist Bias

There are ever more compelling tools available for neuroscience research, ranging from selective genetic targeting to optogenetic circuit control to mapping whole connectomes. These approaches are coupled with a deep-seated, often tacit, belief in the reductionist program for understanding the link between the brain and behavior.
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Commentaries by Dr. Bill Riley: OBSSR’s 2017-2021 Strategic Plan

OBSSR recently released its strategic plan for 2017-2021, which focuses on three equally important strategic priorities. OBSSR Director Dr. Bill Riley wrote three commentaries in Nature, Health Psychology, and Translational Behavioral Medicine that further explore OBSSR's three strategic priorities.
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Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival – Celebrating the Past, Looking to the Future

OBSSR held its inaugural NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival in December 2016, which was initiated to highlight some of the recently funded behavioral and social sciences research that the NIH supports, and to bring together behavioral and social scientists within the NIH extramural and intramural communities.
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In the Know

Register for Behavioral & Social Sciences Honors

OBSSR invites you to attend the 10th Matilda White Riley Behavioral and Social Sciences Honors on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, from 9 a.m. to noon, Wilson Hall, bldg. 1. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required, space is limited.

Join April Director's Series Webinar

Join us on Tuesday, April 18, at 2 p.m. for a webinar by Dr. Jim Spilsbury, Case Western Reserve University, on using smartphone and motion-sensor technology to study 11- to 12-year-olds' sleep.

Save the Dates

NIH’s Inclusion Across the Lifespan Workshop will be held June 1-2, 2017, at the Natcher Conference Center (bldg. 45), Room E1/E2. The event will be webcast and archived.

Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (TIDIRH) will utilize a combination of a 3-month online course (six webinar sessions with related assignments) between mid-August and mid-November, and a 2-day in-person training to be held November 30 and December 1, 2017, in North Bethesda, MD. The training is open to researchers with interests in studying D&I across health care, public health, and community settings

The Annual Dissemination & Implementation (D&I) Conference will take place December 4-6 in Arlington, VA. The call for abstracts for this year's D&I Conference is expected to open in late May and will remain open until late July.

Research Spotlight

Findings from Recently Published Research

Dynamic Relations Among Social Cognitive Theory Components

Social cognitive theory (SCT) is among the most influential theories of behavior change and has been used as the conceptual basis of health behavior interventions for smoking cessation, weight management, and other health behaviors.
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Funding Announcements

Behavioral Research Funding Opportunity

OBSSR and NCI released a new Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) - Intensive Longitudinal Analysis of Health Behaviors: Leveraging New Technologies to Understand Health Behaviors. The (U01) FOA encourages applications to support Research Projects studying factors that influence key health behaviors at the individual level, using intensive longitudinal data collection and analytic methods. The (U24) FOA invites applications to establish a Research Coordinating Center to facilitate and support the Intensive Longitudinal Health Behaviors Initiative.
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Social and Behavioral Research eLearning Course

Good Clinical Practice in Social and Behavioral Research

Complete the free NIH Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Training through the Society of Behavioral Medicine. In September 2016, the NIH issued a Policy on Good Clinical Practice Training for NIH awardees involved in NIH-funded clinical trials. The principles of GCP help assure the safety, integrity, and quality of clinical trials. Certificates will be given upon completion of the training.
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