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:
Hermes E, Lyon A, Schueller S, Glass JE. Measuring the implementation of behavioral intervention technologies: a recharacterization of established outcomes. J Med Internet Res. 2019 Jan 25;21(1):e11752. doi: 10.2196/11752. PubMed
McClure JB, Bricker J, Mull K, Heffner JL. Comparative-effectiveness of group-delivered acceptance and commitment therapy vs. cognitive behavioral therapy for smoking cessation: a randomized controlled trial. Nicotine Tob Res. 2020 Mar 16;22(3):354-362. doi: 10.1093/ntr/nty268. PubMed
Frost MC, Matson TE, Tsui JI, Williams EC. Influence of comorbid drug use disorder on receipt of evidence-based treatment for alcohol use disorder among VA patients with alcohol use disorder and hepatitis C and/or HIV. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2019 Jan 1;194:288-295. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.10.008. Epub 2018 Oct 30. PubMed
Heffner JL, Mull KE, Watson NL, McClure JB, Bricker JB. Smokers with bipolar disorder, other affective disorders, and no mental health conditions: comparison of baseline characteristics and success at quitting in a large 12-month behavioral intervention randomized trial. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2018 Oct 10;193:35-41. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.08.034. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Watson NL, Mull KE, Heffner JL, McClure JB, Bricker JB. Participant Recruitment and Retention in Remote eHealth Intervention Trials: Methods and Lessons Learned From a Large Randomized Controlled Trial of Two Web-Based Smoking Interventions. J Med Internet Res. 2018;20(8):e10351. doi: 10.2196/10351. 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