Background: Intervention Mapping is a planning protocol for developing behavior change interventions, the first three steps of which are intended to establish the foundations and rationales of such interventions. Aim: This systematic review aimed to identify programs that used Intervention Mapping to plan changes in health care professional…

This article describes advances in the behavioral self-management of chronic disease from the perspective of a 25-year trajectory of National Institute of Health-funded research in arthritis and cardiopulmonary diseases that has sought to develop a transdisciplinary understanding of how applied behavioral science can be used to improve health…

Most public health researchers and practitioners agree that we need to accelerate our efforts to eliminate health disparities and promote health equity. The past two decades of research have provided a wealth of descriptive studies, both qualitative and quantitative, that describe the size, scale, and scope of health disparities, as well as the…

Objectives: Physical activity, including some form of vigorous activity, is a key component of a healthy lifestyle in young people. Self-efficacy and social support have been identified as key determinants of physical activity; however, the mechanism that reflects the interplay of these two factors is not well understood. The aim of the current…

Multilevel interventions are inspired by socio-ecological models, and seek to create change on various levels--for example by increasing the health literacy of individuals as well as modifying the social norms within a community. Despite becoming a buzzword in public health, actual multilevel interventions remain scarce. In this commentary, we…

In the present article, we introduce a community empowerment perspective to understanding neighborhoods. A preponderance of literature exists on neighborhood risk factors for crime. Yet less is known about positive factors that make neighborhoods safe and desirable. We propose community empowerment as a conceptual foundation for understanding…

Objective: To document the integration of social science theory in literature on mHealth (mobile health) and consider opportunities for integration of classic theory, health communication theory, and social networking to generate a relevant theory for mHealth program design. Method: A secondary review of research syntheses and meta-analyses…

Podcasting is an emerging technology, and previous interventions have shown promising results using theory-based podcast for weight loss among overweight and obese individuals. This study investigated whether constructs of social cognitive theory and information processing theories (IPTs) mediate the effect of a podcast intervention on weight loss…

Researchers interested in health-related learning have recently begun to study processes people use to self-regulate their health and their ability to prevent or control chronic disease. This paper represents a social cognitive view of self-regulation that involves three classes of influence on self-regulating behavior: personal, behavioral, and…

Childhood obesity continues to increase, disproportionately affecting Mexican American children. The aims of this review are to (a) assess the literature regarding Mexican American mothers' knowledge and perceptions of childhood obesity, prevention, and their role in prevention; (b) critically evaluate the methodological quality of the research…

Minorities are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS in the rural Southeast; therefore, it is important to develop targeted, culturally appropriate interventions to support rural minority participation in HIV/AIDS research. Using intervention mapping, we developed a comprehensive multilevel intervention for service providers (SPs) and people…

Diet-related chronic diseases are highly prevalent among indigenous populations in the Canadian Arctic. A community-based, multi-institutional nutritional and lifestyle intervention--Healthy Foods North--was implemented to improve food-related psychosocial factors and behaviors among Inuit and Inuvialuit in four intervention communities (with two…

The authors developed and delivered a brief patient activation intervention (PAI) that sought to facilitate physician-patient communication. The intervention was designed to assist low-income, racial/ethnic minority users of community health centers in building skills and confidence asking questions. The PAI takes 8 to 10 minutes to deliver and…

Promoting sustainable physical activity (PA) behavior change is challenging, and a number of theoretical models have been developed and applied to this problem. Pender's health promotion model (HPM) is a relatively new model that is based on Bandura's social cognitive theory but includes the additional construct of competing demands, which are…

Theory-driven, mass media interventions prevent smoking among youth. This study examined effects of a media campaign on adolescent smoking cessation. Four matched pairs of media markets in four states were randomized to receive or not receive a 3-year television/radio campaign aimed at adolescent smoking cessation based on social cognitive theory.…