News and Events

national institutes of health - office of behavioral and social sciences research

February 8, 2018

Director's Voice

Behavioral and social sciences are at the heart of the risk factors for heart disease. February 2 was National Wear Red Day, kicking off American Heart Month. We join our colleagues at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in The Heart Truth program to increase awareness that heart disease is the leading cause of death among women, and to increase awareness of the risk factors for heart disease. A few of the risk factors for heart disease are out of our control—getting older, having a family history of early heart disease or a history of preeclampsia during pregnancy—but most of the risk factors for heart disease are modifiable behaviors.

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Research Spotlights

Findings from Recently Published Research

Underrepresentation of minorities in research studies is not due to unwillingness

African American and Latino adults are willing to participate in medical research, but they are not being asked according to a new study by NIMHD-funded researchers. The study included 2,445 African American and Latino adults who participated in a 30-minute telephone survey between June and December 2010. The survey assessed participant’s knowledge of medical research and terminology, informed consent procedures, prior participation in medical research, healthcare experiences, risk perception, trust, and socio-demographics.
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Racial differences in influenza vaccination among high-risk individuals

Influenza-related complications are higher for adults with certain chronic disease such as diabetes or heart disease, yet only 46% of high-risk adults received a flu shot during the 2015-2016 flu season. Research on high-risk adults is limited and there is a paucity of research focused on the racial disparities within this population. This was the focus of a recently published study by NIMHD-funded researchers. The study used data from a nationally-representative online survey of White and African American adults conducted in March 2015. Go There Now

Inflammation-related genes not prenatal stress associated with increased childhood adiposity

According to a recent NIEHS-funded study, prenatal stress is associated with reduced adiposity in early childhood while increased adiposity was associated with methylation of interleukin 6 (IL6). Data from a prospective birth cohort study which enrolled pregnant women from Mexico City between 2007 and 2011 were used. The analyses included 424 mother-child dyads and included measures of each mother’s prematernal stress and negative life events, exposure to violence, depression, anxiety, and prematernal weight.
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In the Know

Events and Announcements

Matilda White Riley Early Stage Investigators Paper Competition

The submission period is open for the 11th NIH Matilda White Riley Behavioral and Social Sciences Honors Early Stage Investigators (ESI, within 10 years of their terminal degree) paper competition. The OBSSR will pay the travel expenses for up to five ESI honorees to present the findings from their accepted paper and participate in a moderated discussion of future research possibilities during the meeting. Only one submission per ESI, please.
The submission deadline is February 16, 2018, 9 a.m. ET.
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Annual Summer Institute on Randomized Behavioral Clinical Trials

The OBSSR, in collaboration with NHLBI, will hold the Eighteenth Annual Summer Institute on Randomized Behavioral Clinical Trials on July 8–19, 2018, in Warrenton, Virginia. The purpose of the multi-day training is to provide a thorough grounding in the conduct of randomized clinical trials to researchers interested in developing competence in the planning, design, and execution of randomized clinical trials involving behavioral interventions. There is no fee to apply.
The deadline for submitting a completed application is February 23, 2018.
Apply Now

Research Priorities for All of Us Research Program

The All of Us Research Program invites you to submit your ideas of important research questions the program could answer. This input will help the program identify new features to add to the All of Us platform to support research across a range of health topics and advance precision medicine.
The program requests submissions by February 23, 2018.
Submit Input

CHIPS Research Program Training Institute

If you are a child psychiatry resident, postdoctoral fellow, or junior faculty member with a strong interest in mental health research for children and adolescents, you are invited to apply to the Child Intervention, Prevention, and Services (CHIPS) program training institute to be held May 21–24, 2018, in Baltimore, MD. Funded through a 5-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, this interdisciplinary training consortium will help enhance your career and help you find direction and faculty mentors.
Applications are due by February 26, 2018.
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Webinar: From Basic Behavioral Science to Interventions for Addictive Behaviors

Join OBSSR Director William T. Riley, Ph.D., on February 27, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. ET for a director’s series webinar titled, “A translational journey: From basic behavioral science to interventions for addictive behaviors.” Drs. Warren Bickel (Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute) and Samuel McClure (Arizona State University) will present a translational research program that explores the application of basic behavioral findings on delay discounting, decision science, and the neural underpinnings of these processes to the development of interventions for alcohol and drug abuse, obesity, and other behavioral risk factors.
Register Today

Screening and Referral for Social Determinants of Health Meeting

Save the date for the Screening and Referral for Social Determinants of Health: Innovative Health Care Applications and Future Directions meeting to be held on May 3, 2018, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the NIH main campus in Bethesda, MD (Porter Neuroscience Research Center, building 35A).

In 2014, the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) recommended the standard capture of 12 health-related social and behavioral measures in electronic health records (EHR). Social and behavioral measures are now routinely collected in many EHR systems and are increasingly being used in clinical care and population health assessment. Routine screening for a patient’s unmet social needs and adverse health behaviors, combined with referral to precision interventions to reduce the patient’s health risks associated with these “social determinants,” is an emerging trend in health care.

This one-day meeting will highlight recent innovative applications and ongoing research, and facilitate dialogue between scientific researchers in the field and staff from NIH and other federal agencies regarding future research directions. A registration link will be provided soon.

Funding Announcements

BRAIN Initiative: Targeted BRAIN Circuits Planning Project - TargetedBCPP (R34 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

This R34 funding opportunity announcement (FOA) solicits applications that offer a limited scope of aims and an approach that will establish feasibility, validity, or other technically qualifying results that, if successful, would support, enable, and/or lay the groundwork for a potential, subsequent Targeted Brain Circuits Projects - TargetedBCPP R01, as described in the companion FOA (RFA-NS-18-009). Applications should be exploratory research projects that use innovative, methodologically-integrated approaches to understand how circuit activity gives rise to mental experience and behavior.
Earliest submission date: February 15, 2018
View FOA

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.
Take the Training