Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Development and Preliminary Testing of Health-related Behavioral Interventions

Purpose

To achieve more potent strategies to promote sustained 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. The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) and participating ICOs are issuing this Notice to highlight interest in the systematic development of original health-related behavioral interventions that test hypotheses that draw on basic behavioral and social sciences research (bBSSR) findings that posit causal or processual mechanisms of action of healthier behavior change. 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.

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) seeks to support and catalyze research on the discovery, development, testing, and implementation of effective strategies to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors for cancer prevention and control. Early-phase (basic-to-clinical) behavioral translation studies (e.g., Phase I or Phase II studies, as defined by the ORBIT model for behavioral treatment development (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25642841) are of particular interest, including research that elucidates the causal factors related to cancer risk behaviors, identifies potential targets for intervention, and/or involves the design and optimization of interventions to promote and sustain healthy behaviors related to cancer prevention and control.

Research in response to this Notice can involve any aspect of the cancer control continuum (e.g., prevention, detection/diagnosis, treatment, survivorship). Cancer-related behavioral risk factors of interest to NCI include tobacco use; diet; energy balance and obesity; physical activity and sedentary behavior; sun safety/UV-protective behaviors and tanning; alcohol use; sleep and circadian function; adherence to cancer-related medical and behavioral regimens; cancer screening; vaccinations to prevent cervical cancer (HPV vaccination); and avoidance of environmental carcinogens (e.g., radon).

The following are of special interest:

• Use of the ORBIT model for behavioral treatment development (seehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25642841) to guide the aims, study designs and methods proposed, with a focus on Phase I and/or Phase II of the ORBIT model;
• New and innovative research designs, alone or in combination, including (but not limited to) mixed-methods, qualitative and user-centered methods; single-case and N-of-1 designs; dose-finding methods; proof-of-concept studies; full and fractional factorial (e.g., as used in Multiphase Optimization Strategy [MOST]) designs; adaptive interventions (e.g., using SMART, JITAI and microrandomized trials);
• Interventions, including those involving natural experiments, targeting the built, sociocultural, communication, and policy environments that affect cancer risk and behavioral risk factors;
• New and existing data collection systems (e.g., smart phone-based, sensor data, electronic health records) and integrated datasets;
• Multi-level interventions, including combinations of at least two levels of analysis (e.g., community and clinical settings) that are hypothesized to produce both independent and joint effects and that address complex behaviors;
• Multi-behavior interventions (e.g., targeting bundles or clusters of behavioral risk factors) including combinations of at least two behaviors, with innovations in the combination of behaviors, the intervention approach, or both;
• Developing and preliminary testing of interventions prior to, during or following cancer treatment that aim to improve symptom management, cancer risk, recurrence, and quality of life;
• Using systems-level methods (e.g., agent-based modeling, system dynamics) to identify drivers of cancer-related risk behaviors and points of entry for interventions.

NCI FOAs for this NOSI include the following or their subsequent reissued equivalents: