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:
Trinh L, Alibhai SMH, Culos-Reed N, Sabiston CM, Jones JM, Rosenberg DE, Whitehorn A, Bastas D, Faulkner GE. Associations of light physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and sedentary behavior with quality of life in men on androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer: a quantile regression analysis. J Behav Med. 2022 Aug;45(4):533-543. doi: 10.1007/s10865-022-00285-7. Epub 2022 Jan 21. PubMed
Rosenberg DE, Greenwood-Hickman MA, Zhou J, Cook AJ, Mettert KD, Cooper J, Arterburn D, Green BB, Walsh-Bailey C, Kerr J, Owen N, Dunstan D, McClure JB. Protocol for a randomized controlled trial of sitting reduction to improve cardiometabolic health in older adults. Contemp Clin Trials. 2021 Dec;111:106593. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2021.106593. Epub 2021 Oct 16. PubMed
Chastin S, Gardiner PA, Harvey JA, Leask CF, Jerez-Roig J, Rosenberg D, Ashe MC, Helbostad JL, Skelton DA. Interventions for reducing sedentary behaviour in community-dwelling older adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021 Jun 25;6:CD012784. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012784.pub2. PubMed
Crist K, Jankowska MM, Schipperijn J, Rosenberg DE, Takemoto M, Zlatar ZZ, Natarajan L, Benmarhnia T. Change in GPS-assessed walking locations following a cluster-randomized controlled physical activity trial in older adults, results from the MIPARC trial. Health Place. 2021 Apr 29;69:102573. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102573. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Heffner JL, Watson NL, Dahne J, Croghan I, Kelly MM, McClure JB, Bars M, Thrul J, Meier E. Recognizing and preventing participant deception in online nicotine and tobacco research studies: suggested tactics and a call to action. Nicotine Tob Res. 2021 Apr 20:ntab077. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntab077. Online ahead of print. 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