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 Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) researchers want to make the right choices the easy and sustainable ones.
“The evidence is clear,” says Jennifer B. McClure, PhD, KPWHRI senior investigator and director of investigative science. “The most effective way to prevent the leading causes of death in the United States is to address their underlying behavioral risk factors: physical inactivity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol use. Collectively, these four behaviors account for over one third of all deaths.” 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. That’s why KPWHRI scientists focus not only on individual behavior but also on ways to change health care systems.
“Our research is not just about empowering people to adopt healthy habits,” says Joe Glass, PhD, MSW, associate investigator. “It’s also about changing medical systems to best support these behavior changes.”
KPWHRI’s behavioral medicine research includes:
“Historically our work has tested different forms of behavioral counseling or novel ways to deliver this counseling,” Dr. McClure says. “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.”
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![]() 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