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Behavior Matters: The Relevance, Impact, and Reach of Behavioral Medicine

  • Original Article
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Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background/Purpose

Growing evidence suggests behavioral interventions that target a few key behaviors may be effective at improving population-level health outcomes; health status indicators; social, economic, and physical environments; personal capacity; and biological outcomes. A theoretical framework that targets both social and cognitive mechanisms of behavioral interventions is outlined as critical for understanding “ripple effects” of behavioral interventions on influencing a broad range of outcomes associated with improved health and well-being.

Methods/Results

Evidence from randomized controlled trials is reviewed and demonstrates support for ripple effects—the effects that behavioral interventions have on multiple outcomes beyond the intended primary target of the interventions. These outcomes include physical, psychological, and social health domains across the lifespan.

Conclusions

Cascading effects of behavioral interventions have important implications for policy that argue for a broader conceptualization of health that integrates physical, mental, and social well-being outcomes into future research to show the greater return on investment.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported, in part, by a grant to Dawn K. Wilson, Ph.D., from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD072153). I would like to thank Robert M. Kaplan, Ph.D., Ken Resnicow, Ph.D., and Jeffrey Levi, Ph.D., for their critical input in developing this paper. I would also like to acknowledge Sara M. St. George, Ph.D., Kassandra Alia, M.A., and Nevelyn Trumpeter, M.S., for their support and input on the slides for the presentation (see Electronic Supplement Materials) and my husband Gregory A. King, M.D., for his patience and support during my presidency.

Author’s Statement of Conflict of Interest and Adherence to Ethical Standards

Dr. Dawn K. Wilson, Ph.D. declares that she has no conflict of interest. All procedures, including the informed consent process, were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Dawn K. Wilson Ph.D.

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  1. Dawn K. Wilson Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Dawn K. Wilson Ph.D..

Additional information

The paper was given as part of the Presidential Address at the 35th Annual Society of Behavioral Medicine Meeting and Scientific Sessions.

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Wilson, D.K. Behavior Matters: The Relevance, Impact, and Reach of Behavioral Medicine. ann. behav. med. 49, 40–48 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9672-1

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