If you’re like most people, your health depends more on what you do every day than on what your health care provider can do for you. Nonetheless, making healthy lifestyle choices can be difficult, especially when it means changing your daily routine and then maintaining these changes over time. That’s why scientists with Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) are working to make the right choices the easy and sustainable ones.
Research suggests that approximately one-third of all deaths in the Unites States are related to 4 behavioral risk factors: physical inactivity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol use. But other behaviors are also critical to health and well-being, such as not misusing prescription opioids or marijuana, getting routine cancer screenings, and following your providers’ medical advice.
Historically, KPWHRI's research has tested different forms of behavioral counseling or novel ways to deliver this counseling. Increasingly, we are now testing digital therapeutic interventions delivered via smartphone app or text — for example, to help people set and achieve their health goals. People like the convenience of digital interventions, but it remains to be seen how effective they are and for whom they work best. Our research is helping to answer these important questions.
KPWHRI’s behavioral medicine research includes:
Schnoll R, Bernstein SL, Kaufman A, Gross R, Catz SL, Cioe PA, Hitsman B, Marhefka SL, Pacek LR, Vidrine DJ, Vilardaga R, Edelman EJ, McClure JB, Ashare R, Lockhart E, Crothers K. Covid-19 challenges confronted by smoking cessation clinical trials for people living with HIV: the experience of grantees of the United States National Cancer Institute. Nicotine Tob Res. 2021 Feb 28;ntab035. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntab035. Online ahead of print. PubMed
McCurry SM, Zhu W, Von Korff M, Wellman R, Morin CM, Thakral M, Yeung K, Vitiello MV. Effect of telephone cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in older adults with osteoarthritis pain: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2021 Feb 22:e209049. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.9049. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Nguyen NH, Vallance JK, Buman MP, Moore MM, Reeves MM, Rosenberg DE, Boyle T, Milton S, Friedenreich CM, English DR, Lynch BM. Effects of a wearable technology-based physical activity intervention on sleep quality in breast cancer survivors: the ACTIVATE Trial. J Cancer Surviv. 2020 Sep 1. doi: 10.1007/s11764-020-00930-7. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Thakral M, Von Korff M, McCurry SM, Morin CM, Vitiello MV. Changes in dysfunctional beliefs about sleep after cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Sleep Med Rev. 2019 Nov 9;49:101230. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2019.101230. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Grekin E, Beatty JE, McGoron L, Kugler KC, McClure JB, Pop DE, Ondersma SJ. Testing the efficacy of motivational strategies, empathic reflections, and lifelike features in a computerized intervention for alcohol use: a factorial trial. Psychol Addict Behav. 2019 Sep;33(6):511-519. doi: 10.1037/adb0000502. Epub 2019 Aug 22. PubMed
Katharine A. Bradley, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Paula Lozano, MD, MPHSenior Investigator; Director, ACT Center |
Jennifer B. McClure, PhDDirector, Investigative Science |
Dori E. Rosenberg, PhD, MPHSenior Investigator |
James D. Ralston, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Ben Balderson, PhDSenior Collaborative Scientist |
Gwen Lapham, PhD, MPH, MSWAssistant Investigator |
Melissa L. Anderson, MSPrincipal Collaborative Biostatistician |
Paula R. Blasi, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
Joseph E. Glass, PhD, MSWAssociate Investigator |
Beverly B. Green, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Julie E. Richards, PhD, MPHAssistant Investigator |
Leah K. Hamilton, PhDSenior Collaborative Scientist |
Chloe Krakauer, PhDCollaborative Biostatistician |
Mikael Anne Greenwood-Hickman, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
Pamela A. Shaw, PhD, MSSenior Biostatistics Investigator |
Kelsey Stefanik-Guizlo, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
Sheryl L. Catz, PhD
Professor, Health Care Innovation and Technology, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing
University of California–Davis
Sue McCurry, PhD
University of Washington (UW) Department of Psychosocial and Community Health
Emily Williams, PhD, MPH
UW Department of Health Services; VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence