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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The Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR) archives materials older than three years that are no longer updated.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.

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

November 16, 2017

Director's Voice

Humans are Predictably Irrational: The Influence of Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler and Behavioral Economics. Suppose you are bitten by a spider and the chance of death from the bite is quite small (1 in 100,000), how much would you pay to receive the antidote? Now suppose instead you are recruited to participate in a study in which this spider venom is being studied and the consent form says that you have a 1 in 100,000 chance of dying from the experiment. How much would you want the researchers to pay you to participate?

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Research Spotlights

Findings from Recently Published Research

Health behavior profiles of U.S. adults

Research focusing on individual behaviors ignores complex unmeasured group level patterns which, if acted upon as lifestyle interventions, provide a more cost efficient and effective route to changing health outcomes. This was the focus of a recent NIA-funded study which examined how different health behavior patterns relate to mortality. Data from the 2004-2009 National Health Interview Survey was analyzed using latent class analysis to identify seven typologies of health behavior based on sleep, physical activity, smoking status, alcohol use, preventive dental or eye care, and receiving a flu vaccine.
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Affect, self-management behavior and glucose control in Latinos with Type 2 diabetes

Glucose control is essential for people with diabetes and while medicinal and lifestyle effects are well established, less is known about the influence of psychosocial characteristics on glucose control. A new NIMHD-funded study examines this relationship by considering the influence of affect and self-care behaviors on glucose variability and control in Latinos with type 2 diabetes. The study included 50 participants who were part of the Community Health Workers Assisting Latinos Manage Stress and Diabetes study.
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Does smoking and obesity-related mortality risk vary internationally?

Does engaging in same health behavior in a different social context produce significantly different results? This was the focus of a recent NIA-funded study which examined whether the risk of mortality from smoking and obesity differs between the U.S. and Finland. The study pooled nationally representative demographic, behavioral, and mortality data collected in the U.S. and Finland between 1971 and 2014. These two countries were chosen because they have higher than average GPD but differ in their healthcare delivery systems, amount of poverty, and levels of income inequality.
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In the Know

Events and Announcements

2017 NIH BSSR Festival: Connecting People to Advance Health

Please join OBSSR and the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee for the “NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival: Connecting People to Advance Health,” on Friday, December 8, at 8:30 a.m. ET at the Natcher Conference Center (Building 45). This annual festival brings together behavioral and social scientists within the NIH extramural and intramural communities to network and collaborate with each other and share scientific ideas; highlight recently funded behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR) that the NIH supports; and explore ways to advance BSSR. This meeting will not be live webcast. Please register to attend in person. This meeting is free and open to the public.
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OBSSR Director's Series Webinar: Behavioral Pain Management Interventions for Patients with Cancer

Join OBSSR Director William T. Riley, Ph.D., and Tamara Somers, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center, on Tuesday, November 28, at 2:00 p.m. ET for a webinar titled “Behavioral Pain Management Interventions for Patients with Cancer: Improving Access and Optimization.” Pain is one of the most common and distressing symptoms for patients with cancer. There is evidence that behavioral pain interventions are efficacious for decreasing pain and pain-related symptoms. The NIH recommends the integration of behavioral pain interventions into cancer care. Yet, these interventions remain poorly translated into clinical cancer care. Two factors impacting poor implementation are persistent intervention access barriers and lack of intervention optimization. This presentation will focus on strategies for increasing behavioral pain intervention access and optimization.

NIH Plans for Issuing Clinical Trial Specific Parent Announcements

In February NIH announced plans to require clinical trial specific funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) for due dates of January 25, 2018, and beyond. Expect to see clinical trial specific parent FOAs on the streets for select activity codes at least 60 days ahead of the first due date after January 25, 2018. Some NIH Institutes and Centers will join these parent FOAs; others will publish IC-specific Clinical Trial FOAs.
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2017 NIH Pathways to Prevention Workshop: Methods for Evaluating Natural Experiments in Obesity

Obesity is a major contributor to serious health conditions, but its multifactor nature makes it an exceedingly complex condition to study. Use of natural experiments can aid the study of obesity but these experiments are impeded by several research gaps. The NIH Office of Disease Prevention (ODP), National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) are sponsoring the Pathways to Prevention Workshop: Methods for Evaluating Natural Experiments in Obesity on December 5-6, 2017, in Bethesda, Maryland, at the Natcher Conference Center. This conference seeks to address research gaps by clarifying questions on data-sources, methodologies, and measures in natural experiments to advance the field and effect change in obesity prevention efforts nationally. The workshop is free and open to the public.
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NIH Science of Behavior Change Program FOAs Webinar

The Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) program seeks to promote basic research on the initiation, personalization and maintenance of behavior change. Two informational webinars were held for potential applicants to the below SOBC FOAs. The webinar recording, transcript, and FAQs compiled from both webinars are now publicly available on the SOBC Common Fund Website.

Science of Behavior Change: Revision Applications for Use-inspired Research to Optimize Adherence, Behavior Change Interventions, and Outcomes (R01) (RFA-RM-17-022)
Science of Behavior Change: Revision Applications for Use-inspired Research to Optimize Adherence, Behavior Change Interventions, and Outcomes (U01) (RFA-RM-17-023)
Science of Behavior Change: Revision Applications for Use-inspired Research to Optimize Adherence, Behavior Change Interventions, and Outcomes (R34) (RFA-RM-17-024)
Science of Behavior Change: Use-inspired Research to Optimize Adherence, Behavior Change Interventions, and Outcomes (R21) (RFA-RM-17-028)

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Funding Announcements

Prevention and Treatment through a Comprehensive Care Continuum for HIV-affected Adolescents in Resource Constrained Settings

The purpose of this FOA is to stimulate much needed research in an important area of public health significance: prevention of new HIV infections among adolescents at risk, and the identification of, linkage to and retention in care of, and long term viral suppression among youth living with HIV in low-to-middle income countries. These settings must have an HIV epidemic density defined by UNAIDS estimates as either a country 1) in which at least 200,000 people are living with HIV and the number has not decreased by more than 5% over the last 2 consecutive years of available data or 2) has an HIV prevalence of 3% or more.
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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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