Purpose
The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) and participating ICOs are issuing this Notice to highlight interest in the systematic development of novel health-related behavioral interventions that leverage new, emerging or understudied areas in basic behavioral and social sciences research (bBSSR). To achieve more potent and sustained strategies to promote health-related behavior change, there is a need for intentional and methodical translation of foundational behavioral and social science discoveries into new or improved interventions. This includes research that focuses on use-inspired bBSSR, understanding of mechanisms of action underlying initial and sustained behavior change, and systematic development and testing of health-related behavioral interventions and their components.
Background:
While there have been many important prevention and treatment advances based on behavioral and social science research, it is not uncommon for even the most robust interventions to work only in a subset of those intervened upon and for changes to be difficult to sustain over time. There is a need for intervention development research that bridges basic and applied behavioral science, in which insights from basic research about the mechanisms and moderators of human behavior are used to develop more effective, efficient, and enduring interventions for health-related behavior change.
Research Objectives:
This Notice encourages translational behavioral intervention research, integrated with basic behavioral and social science, aimed at creating, refining, and testing novel interventions focused on the initiation, cessation, or maintenance of behaviors associated with improved health or disease mitigation.
The behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and/or social targets for the intervention/s being developed and tested in response to this NOSI, should be based on insights from basic science about mechanisms that underlie health-related behavior change. Interventions may target the individual (e.g., cognitive or psychological processes), the immediate social environment (e.g., dyadic or family relationships), and/or broader social, organizational or environmental systems (e.g., worksites, schools, healthcare delivery, or neighborhood features).
Outcomes may include clinical indicators or health-related behaviors measured at the individual level or shifts in behavior or health indicators that are measured at an aggregate/population level.
Applicants are encouraged to employ innovative study designs for building, adapting, and optimizing behavioral interventions. Interdisciplinary project teams are also encouraged.
The use of an intervention development framework and/or approach to inform the research plan is encouraged. Examples include, but are not limited to, the Obesity Related Behavioral Intervention Trials (ORBIT) model for behavioral treatment development (https://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/brp/hbrb/translational-research.html; the NIH Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development (https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/dbsr/stage-model-behavioral-intervention-development) and the Science of Behavior Change’s experimental medicine approach (https://scienceofbehaviorchange.org/what-is-sobc/)..
Intervention creation and refinement require iterative and systematic testing of intervention features and components. Study timelines should include clear research steps, goals and milestones (go/no-go decision points). It is understood that during the intervention development process, timeline deviations may occur based on study results; for example, findings at one step may require a return to an earlier step to further refine an intervention or better understand the mechanism of action. As such, applicants should include a plan for dealing with unexpected results before proceeding to the next step of the intervention development refinement and testing plan.