ATTACHMENT 1:
Scientific, Expert Panel, and Ongoing Working Group Meetings Information
Cognitive and Social Processes in Health Research Working Group
October
2009 – present, ongoing
A
fundamental goal of the National Cancer Institute’s Behavioral
Research Program (BRP) is to facilitate a better understanding of
health behaviors and their underlying processes. The Cognitive,
Affective, and Social Processes in Health Research (CASPHR) working
group was convened in to provide expert consultation on how theories
of cognitive, affective, and social processes, in particular, can
enhance research and practice throughout the cancer continuum. CASPHR
is composed of basic behavioral scientists with expertise in
psychological mechanisms underlying (1) the adoption and maintenance
of health-related behavior and (2) the processing of and
responsiveness to health information. Mechanisms and processes of
interest include intrapersonal
constructs such as risk perception, social judgment, behavioral
decision-making, self-regulation, attitudes, incidental and integral
affect, emotion regulation, personality, efficacy, and mental
representations; and interpersonal
constructs and processes such as social norms, social identity,
social influence, relationships, discrimination, and persuasion.
Heavy emphasis is placed on taking theory-based approaches to
behavior and message processing (particularly but not limited to the
domain of cancer), with explicit focus on both moderators and
mediators of effective communication and behavior change. The group
is co-chaired by Alexander Rothman and William Klein.
The
Cognitive, Affective, and Social Processes in Health Research
Workgroup is composed of a group of experts with the mission of
advancing contributions that theories of cognitive, affective, and
social processes can make to enhancing research and practice
throughout the cancer continuum. CASPHR members work together to
pursue the following goals:
Collaborate with individuals both inside and outside of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) on initiatives and publications targeting key problem domains.
Contribute to developmental research projects, conduct and publish syntheses of high-yield areas, and participate in meetings contributing to the identification and development of new research priorities and initiatives.
Participate in and report on activities associated with relevant NCI-sponsored workshops and grantee meetings, professional meetings, relevant workshops and meetings sponsored by National Academies and other Institutes, and briefings to policy officials, advisory committees, and research directors.
Participate in the development and implementation of theory-driven analysis of data from secondary data sets to which NCI has access, as well as contribute to the development of NCI-sponsored surveys.
Decision-Making Interest Group
October 2012 – present, ongoing
Across the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), there are ongoing, theory-based efforts to understand decision-making related to cancer prevention and control. These include decisions made by health populations (e.g., choosing a primary care provider) and cancer survivors (e.g., treatment decisions), as well as single-event decisions (cancer screening decisions) and decisions that would lead to a larger pattern of behavioral maintenance (e.g., food choices). The Decision-Making Interest Group was formed to unite these efforts and facilitate collaborations and research synergy. The group meets monthly to discuss research ideas and collaborations, and to discuss results of research projects related to decision-making.
Decision-Making Steering Committee
January 2014 – present, ongoing
As a result of the DCCPS interest and research collaborations in decision-making (see above), this steering committee was formed to move forward funding initiatives to stimulate cancer-related decision-making research in the extramural community. Research conducted under this generic clearance helps to clarify ideas and concepts that are integral to these forthcoming funding initiatives.
Health Cognitions and Emotions Working Group
June 2010 – present, ongoing
Across all branches in the Behavioral Research Program, there are behavioral and psychological scientists interested in examining the role of health cognitions and emotions– such as bracing, anticipated regret, risk perception, worry, and self-related cognitions – in cancer prevention and control, and developing initiatives that revolve around the study of these health cognitions and emotions. This working group meets approximately once a month to formulate research questions and develop studies and items to test hypotheses related to these research questions. For example, the group developed a series of health cognition and emotion items for the fourth administration of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). The group is interested in developing, refining, and validating theory related to health cognition and emotion.
Risk Perception Interest Group
August 2010 – present, ongoing
The Risk Perception Interest Group is a working group of scientists interested in developing and refining risk perception theory – including identifying determinants and effects of risk perception and elucidating the components of risk perceptions themselves. This working group meets approximately once a month to work on developing a complex and comprehensive model of risk perception, and to discuss avenues for validating the model.
Theories Survey Expert Panel Meeting
June 2010
The Behavioral Research Program convened a panel of NCI scientific staff and external investigators with expertise in health behavior theory, health behavior change, and survey planning, methodology, and statistics to assist in designing the Theories Survey. The purpose of this survey is to Panel members agreed the survey will allow us to assess which constructs or groupings of constructs are most predictive of various behaviors; to assess moderators of the relationships between constructs and behaviors; to examine overlap between constructs in current health behavior theories; and to examine the role of constructs seldom studied in the context of health behavior theories, such as affect or environmental-level factors. Further, the group agreed achieving these goals makes the survey worth pursuing, provided careful attention can be paid to methodological issues that are often unresolved in health behavior theory research. One important outcome from the meeting was the formulation of a goal to conduct formative research in BRP to assess empirical overlap among health behavior theory constructs, which is an activity that would be supported under this generic clearance.
Theories Working Group
June 2010 – present, ongoing
As a result of the June 2010 Theories Survey Expert Panel meeting (described above), a sub-group of experts in health behavior theory were invited to participate in a working group to identify important theories and behaviors necessary to represent in the survey. Workgroups have further stressed the need to conduct formative research to assess empirical overlap among health behavior theory constructs
Workshop on Conceptualizing and Measuring Risk
February 2003
This invitation-only workshop brought together scientists from a variety of perspectives to examine critically the perceived risk construct. The short-term goal was to arrive at a more sophisticated understanding of the various components of perceived risk in order to facilitate more productive research on the relation between risk communication, risk perceptions and health behavior. The longer-term goals were to: 1) Facilitate the development and enrichment of health behavior theories, and the translation of these theories into research that can predict behavior. 2) Guide health promotion efforts toward more effective interventions. 3) Assist applied researchers in determining whether their interventions have succeeded in altering the ways in which hazards are perceived.
For a complete meeting report and list of participants, see: http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/brp/theories_project/concept-workshop/index.html
| File Type | application/msword |
| Author | NCI User |
| Last Modified By | Rebecca Anne Ferrer |
| File Modified | 2014-04-24 |
| File Created | 2014-04-24 |