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:
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Imrey PB, Jackson LA, Ludwinski PH, England AC 3rd, Fella GA, Fox BC, Isdale LB, Reeves MW, Wenger JD. An outbreak of serogroup C meningococcal disease associated with campus bar patronage. Am J Epidemiol. 1996;143(6):624-30. PubMed
Buehler JW, Diaz T, Hersh B, Chu SY. The supplement to HIV-AIDS Surveillance project: an approach for monitoring HIV risk behaviors. Public Health Rep. 1996;110:133-7. PubMed
McCann BS, Bovbjerg VE, Curry SJ, Retzlaff BM, Walden CE, Knopp RH. Predicting participation in a dietary intervention to lower cholesterol among individuals with hyperlipidemia. Health Psychol. 1996;15(10):61-64. PubMed
Curry SJ, Beresford SA, Kristal A, Lazovich D. Managed care-based dietary change interventions. Ann Behav Med. 1996;18 (Suppl):S060. 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