A Strategic Plan for Strengthening America's Families: A Brief from the Coalition of Behavioral Science Organizations.

Despite significant progress in research on the treatment and prevention of psychological, behavioral, and health problems, the translation of this knowledge into population-wide benefit remains limited. This paper reviews the state of America's children and families, highlighting the influence of stressful contextual and social conditions on child and family well-being and the concentration of disadvantage in numerous neighborhoods and communities throughout the nation. It then briefly reviews the progress that has been made in pinpointing policies that can reduce stressful contextual conditions such as poverty, discrimination, and the marketing of unhealthful foods and substances. It also describes numerous family and school interventions that have proven benefit in preventing psychological and behavioral problems as diverse as tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use; depression; antisocial behavior; academic failure; obesity prevention; and early childbearing. We argue that progress in translating existing knowledge into widespread benefit will require a nationwide effort to intervene comprehensively in neighborhoods and communities of concentrated disadvantage. We present a strategic plan for how such an effort could be organized. The first step in this organizing would be the creation of a broad and diverse coalition of organizations concerned with advancing public health and well-being. Such a coalition could increase public support both for the policies needed to focus on these disadvantaged areas and the research needed to incrementally improve our ability to help these areas.

Human Flourishing and Population Health: Meaning, Measurement, and Implications.

Human flourishing has recently emerged as a construct of interest in clinical and population-health studies. Its origins as a focus of research are rooted in philosophical writing dating to Aristotle's concept of eudaimonia, in the work of contemporary psychologists, and in studies by epidemiologists, physicians, and social and behavioral scientists who have investigated religious influences on physical and mental health since the 1980s. Inasmuch as human flourishing has been characterized as multidimensional or multifaceted, with hypothetically broad antecedents and significant outcomes, it may be an especially valuable construct for researchers. For one, it would seem to tap something deeper and more meaningful than the superficial single-item measures that often characterize such studies. This article surveys the rich history of the concept of human flourishing in its multiple meanings and contexts across disciplines, proposes a conceptual model for assessing the construct, and lays out an agenda for clinical and population-health research.

Translating Behavioral Science into Practice: A Framework to Determine Science Quality and Applicability for Police Organizations.

Policy on officer-involved shootings is critically reviewed and errors in applying scientific knowledge identified. Identifying and evaluating the most relevant science to a field-based problem is challenging. Law enforcement administrators with a clear understanding of valid science and application are in a better position to utilize scientific knowledge for the benefit of their organizations and officers. A recommended framework is proposed for considering the validity of science and its application. Valid science emerges via hypothesis testing, replication, extension and marked by peer review, known error rates, and general acceptance in its field of origin. Valid application of behavioral science requires an understanding of the methodology employed, measures used, and participants recruited to determine whether the science is ready for application. Fostering a science-practitioner partnership and an organizational culture that embraces quality, empirically based policy, and practices improves science-to-practice translation.

[The medical psychology in Hungary: way of thinking, frame of references and applications]. / Az orvosi pszichológia fejlodése hazánkban: szemléleti keretek, határterületek és alkalmazások.

The present study aims at overviewing the different stages of the education of medical psychology in Hungary. In the perspective of the achievements of cognitive and affective neuroscience as well as developmental psychology, we intend to define the roots of doctor-patient relationship, certain determining factors of diagnosis forming and therapy efficiency as well as the essential components of empathy. We attest to the fact that the current psychosomatic medicine with its evidence-based achievements is a valid component and constitutive pillar of everyday medical care. The integrated university level instruction of medical psychology and behavioral sciences aims at consolidating this perspective. We also emphasize that the ill body hinders adequate psychological functioning and mental disorders provide risk factors concerning somatic illnesses. Through spreading health psychology perspective, we support the concept that in everyday medical care, health protection and the development of health conscious behavior relies on responsible, informed and committed decision-making patients as well as on similarly educated extended medical care teams. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(36): 1455-1464.

Challenges Facing Evidence-Based Prevention: Incorporating an Abductive Theory of Method.

Current systems used to determine whether prevention programs are "evidence-based" rely on the logic of deductive reasoning. This reliance has fostered implementation of strategies with explicitly stated evaluation criteria used to gauge program validity and suitability for dissemination. Frequently, investigators resort to the randomized controlled trial (RCT) combined with null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) as a means to rule out competing hypotheses and determine whether an intervention works. The RCT design has achieved success across numerous disciplines but is not without limitations. We outline several issues that question allegiance to the RCT, NHST, and the hypothetico-deductive method of scientific inquiry. We also discuss three challenges to the status of program evaluation including reproducibility, generalizability, and credibility of findings. As an alternative, we posit that extending current program evaluation criteria with principles drawn from an abductive theory of method (ATOM) can strengthen our ability to address these challenges and advance studies of drug prevention. Abductive reasoning involves working from observed phenomena to the generation of alternative explanations for the phenomena and comparing the alternatives to select the best possible explanation. We conclude that an ATOM can help increase the influence and impact of evidence-based prevention for population benefit.

Exacerbating Inequalities? Health Policy and the Behavioural Sciences.

There have been calls for some time for a new approach to public health in the United Kingdom and beyond. This is consequent on the recognition and acceptance that health problems often have a complex and multi-faceted aetiology. At the same time, policies which utilise insights from research in behavioural economics and psychology ('behavioural science') have gained prominence on the political agenda. The relationship between the social determinants of health (SDoH) and behavioural science in health policy has not hitherto been explored. Given the on-going presence of strategies based on findings from behavioural science in policy-making on the political agenda, an examination of this is warranted. This paper begins by looking at the place of the SDoH within public health, before outlining, in brief, the recent drive towards utilising behavioural science to formulate law and public policy. We then examine the relationship between this and the SDoH. We argue that behavioural public health policy is, to a certain extent, blind to the social and other determinants of health. In section three, we examine ways in which such policies may perpetuate and/or exacerbate health inequities and social injustices. We argue that problems in this respect may be compounded by assumptions and practices which are built into some behavioural science methodologies. We also argue that incremental individual gains may not be enough. As such, population-level measures are sometimes necessary. In section four we defend this contention, arguing that an equitable and justifiable public health requires such measures.

Sharing behavioral data through a grid infrastructure using data standards.

OBJECTIVE: In an effort to standardize behavioral measures and their data representation, the present study develops a methodology for incorporating measures found in the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) grid-enabled measures (GEM) portal, a repository for behavioral and social measures, into the cancer data standards registry and repository (caDSR). METHODS: The methodology consists of four parts for curating GEM measures into the caDSR: (1) develop unified modeling language (UML) models for behavioral measures; (2) create common data elements (CDE) for UML components; (3) bind CDE with concepts from the NCI thesaurus; and (4) register CDE in the caDSR. RESULTS: UML models have been developed for four GEM measures, which have been registered in the caDSR as CDE. New behavioral concepts related to these measures have been created and incorporated into the NCI thesaurus. Best practices for representing measures using UML models have been utilized in the practice (eg, caDSR). One dataset based on a GEM-curated measure is available for use by other systems and users connected to the grid. CONCLUSIONS: Behavioral and population science data can be standardized by using and extending current standards. A new branch of CDE for behavioral science was developed for the caDSR. It expands the caDSR domain coverage beyond the clinical and biological areas. In addition, missing terms and concepts specific to the behavioral measures addressed in this paper were added to the NCI thesaurus. A methodology was developed and refined for curation of behavioral and population science data.

Authentic leadership and its effect on employees’ organizational citizenship behaviours / Liderazgo auténtico y su efecto en los comportamientos de ciudadanía organizacional de los seguidores

The studies that have verified the positive association of authentic leadership with organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs), have used global measures of both constructs. Therefore, the goal of this work is to analyze the effect of authentic leadership on employees’ OCBs, specifically focusing on the relations of the four components of authentic leadership with the individual and organizational dimensions of the OCBs. The participants of this study were 220 Spanish employees (30.9% men and 69.1% women) who completed a questionnaire that included the variables of interest in this study: Authentic Leadership, OCB and Sociobiographical control variables. The results, obtained with stepwise multiple regression analysis, show that two components of authentic leadership -moral perspective and relational transparency-present significant relationships with OCB. Moreover, authentic leadership is a better predictor of employees’ OCB when these behaviors are impersonal and directed towards the organization than when they are directed towards other people. These results have practical implications for human resources management in organizations, especially in selection processes and when training top executives (AU)

Los estudios que han probado asociación positiva del Liderazgo Auténtico con los OCB han empleado medidas globales de ambos constructos. Este trabajo pretende profundizar más en el efecto del Liderazgo Auténtico sobre los OCB, concentrándose en analizar la relación específica de sus cuatro componentes con las dimensiones individual y organizacional de los OCB. Los participantes de este estudio cuasi experimental fueron 220 empleados españoles (30,9% hombres y 69,1% mujeres) que respondieron a un cuestionario compuesto por las variables a estudiar: Liderazgo Auténtico, Comportamientos de Ciudadanía Organizacional y variables sociobiográficas. Los resultados obtenidos mediante análisis de regresión múltiple stepwise indican que dos componentes del liderazgo auténtico -perspectiva moral y transparencia relacional- se relacionan significativamente con los OCB. Adicionalmente, el liderazgo auténtico es mejor predictor de los OCB de los seguidores cuando estos comportamientos son impersonales y están dirigidos a la organización en sí misma que cuando están dirigidos a personas. Estos resultados tienen implicaciones prácticas para la gestión de los recursos humanos en las organizaciones, especialmente en los procesos de selección y formación de directivos (AU)

The roles of constraint-based and dedication-based influences on user’s continued online shopping behavior

The objective of this study was to determine empirically the role of constraint-based and dedicationbased influences as drivers of the intention to continue using online shopping websites. Constraintbased influences consist of two variables: trust and perceived switching costs. Dedication-based influences consist of three variables: satisfaction, perceived usefulness, and trust. The current results indicate that both constraint-based and dedication-based influences are important drivers of the intention to continue using online shopping websites. The data also shows that trust has the strongest total effect on online shoppers’ intention to continue using online shopping websites. In addition, the results indicate that the antecedents of constraint-based influences, technical bonds (e.g., perceived operational competence and perceived website interactivity) and social bonds (e.g., perceived relationship investment, community building, and intimacy) have indirect positive effects on the intention to continue using online shopping websites. Based on these findings, this research suggests that online shopping websites should build constraint-based and dedication-based influences to enhance user's continued online shopping behaviors simultaneously (AU)

El objetivo de este trabajo fue comprobar experimentalmente el papel que juegan las técnicas basadas en la coacción o en la dedicación como impulsoras del uso de páginas web de compra on-line. Las influencias basadas en la coacción presentan dos variables: confianza y cambio de coste percibido. Las influencias basadas en la dedicación muestran tres variables: satisfacción, utilidad percibida y confianza. Los resultados indicaron que ambas influencias son importantes impulsores de la intención de continuar usando páginas web de compra on-line. Los datos mostraron que la confianza era la variable más influyente en la intención del uso de estas páginas web. Adicionalmente, los resultados indicaron que los antecedentes de las influencias basadas en la restricción, en cadenas técnicas (v.gr., competencia operacional percibida e interactividad percibida del sitio web) y las redes sociales (v.gr., inversión en relaciones percibida, comunidad e intimidad) tuvieron efectos indirectos positivos en la intención de continuar usando páginas web de compra on-line. De acuerdo con estos resultados, se sugiere que dichas páginas web deberían usar tanto influencias basadas en la restricción como en la dedicación para incrementar el uso continuado de la conducta de compra on-line (AU)

Defining behavior-environment interactions: translating and developing an experimental and applied behavior-analytic vocabulary in and to the national language.

Verbal behavior, as in the use of terms, is an important part of scientific activity in general and behavior analysis in particular. Many glossaries and dictionaries of behavior analysis have been published in English, but few in any other language. Here we review the area of behavior analytic terminology, its translations, and development in languages other than English. As an example, we use our own mother tongue, Finnish, which provides a suitable example of the process of translation and development of behavior analytic terminology, because it differs from Indo-European languages and entails specific advantages and challenges in the translation process. We have published three editions of a general dictionary of behavior analysis including 801 terms relevant to the experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis and one edition of a dictionary of applied and clinical behavior analysis containing 280 terms. Because this work has been important to us, we hope this review will encourage similar work by behavior analysts in other countries whose native language is not English. Behavior analysis as an advanced science deserves widespread international dissemination and proper translations are essential to that goal.

Predicting team output using indices at group level

The present study explores the usefulness of dyadic quantification of group characteristics to predict team work performance. After reviewing the literature regarding team member characteristics predicting group performance, percentages of explained variance between 3% and 18% were found. These studies have followed an individualistic approach to measure group characteristics (e. g., mean and variance), based on aggregation. The aim of the present work was testing whether by means of dyadic measures group output prediction percentage could be increased. The basis of dyadic measures is data obtained from an interdependent pairs of individuals. Specifically, the present research was intended to develop a new dyadic index to measure personality dissimilarity in groups and to explore whether dyadic measurements allow improving groups’ outcome predictions compared to individualistic methods. By means of linear regression, 49.5 % of group performance variance was explained using the skewsymmetry and the proposed dissimilarity index in personality as predictors. These results support the usefulness of the dyadic approach for predicting group outcomes (AU)

El presente estudio explora la utilidad de la cuantificación diádica de las características grupales para predecir el rendimiento en equipos de trabajo. Tras revisar la literatura relacionada con el estudio de las características de los miembros de un grupo para predecir el rendimiento grupal, se encontraron porcentajes de varianza explicada de entre el 3% y el 18%. Estos estudios han seguido el denominado enfoque individual, fundamentado en la agregación, para resumir las características de los grupos (e. g., media y varianza). El objetivo del presente estudio es poner a prueba si, mediante medidas diádicas se puede incrementar el porcentaje de predicción del rendimiento grupal. La base de las medidas diádicas son datos obtenidos a partir de pares de individuos interdependientes. Concretamente, en la presente investigación se pretende desarrollar un nuevo índice diádico para medir disimilitud en personalidad en grupos y verificar si las medidas diádicas mejoran la predicción del rendimiento grupal en comparación con las predicciones obtenidas mediante índices basados en la perspectiva individual. Mediante regresión lineal fue explicado el 49.5% de la variabilidad en el rendimiento grupal utilizando como predictoras las medidas tomadas mediante los índices diádicos de antisimetría y disimilitud en personalidad. Estos resultados apoyan la utilidad de la perspectiva diádica para predecir el rendimiento grupal (AU)

Situación del Servicio Médico del Consejo Nacional de Tránsito (CNTT) de Quito, como base para el diseño e implementación progresiva de un Sistema de Gestión por Procesos / Situation of the Medical Service of the National Council of Traffic (CNTT) of Quito, like base for the design and progressive implementation of a System of Administration for Processes

La presente investigación partió de la pregunta ¿cuáles son los factores internos y externos que influyen o limitan la calidad de respuesta del servicio médico del Consejo Nacional de Tránsito (CNTTT) de la ciudad de Quito a las necesidades y demandas de sus usuarios/as?. Se estudió por tanto el comportamiento organizacional (CO) del Consejo en sus tres componenetes: indiviudos , grupos y estructura y cómo repercute este contexto institucional en la gestión y modelo de atención del servicio médico, así también la influencia de la calidad de sus prestaciones.La metodología utilizada para esta investigación consistió en la revisión documental, aplicación de encuestas y entrevistas a informantes claves, así como observaciones directas a los procesos de trabajo durante el periodo de enero 2006 a enero 2007. Una vez aplicados los instrumentos de la investigación se pudo llegar la siguiente resultado

Behavioural science at work for Canada: National Research Council laboratories.

The National Research Council is Canada's principal research and development agency. Its 20 institutes are structured to address interdisciplinary problems for industrial sectors, and to provide the necessary scientific infrastructure, such as the national science library. Behavioural scientists are active in five institutes: Biological Sciences, Biodiagnostics, Aerospace, Information Technology, and Construction. Research topics include basic cellular neuroscience, brain function, human factors in the cockpit, human-computer interaction, emergency evacuation, and indoor environment effects on occupants. Working in collaboration with NRC colleagues and with researchers from universities and industry, NRC behavioural scientists develop knowledge, designs, and applications that put technology to work for people, designed with people in mind.

A description of the social-ecological framework used in the trial of activity for adolescent girls (TAAG).

Social-ecological (SE) models are becoming more widely used in health behavior research. Applying SE models to the design of interventions is challenging because models must be tailor-made for each behavior and population, other theories need to be integrated into multi-level frameworks, and empirical research to guide model development is limited. The purpose of the present paper is to describe a SE framework that guided the intervention and measurement plans for a specific study. The trial of activity for adolescent girls (TAAG) is a multi-center study of interventions to reduce the decline of physical activity in adolescent girls. The TAAG framework incorporates operant learning theory, social cognitive theory, organizational change theory and the diffusion of innovation model in a multi-level model. The explicit and practical model developed for TAAG has already benefited the study and may have elements that can generalize to other health promotion studies.

HIV medication adherence. The intersection of biomedical, behavioral, and social science research and clinical practice.

The unique nature of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the needs of people living with HIV disease have required the expertise of clinicians and biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social scientists. The successes achieved in the past 25 years are the collective product of committed individuals from within all these disciplines. This is particularly true in HIV care and therapeutics and, specifically, in medication adherence, where biologic, clinical, behavioral, and social issues converge and each has been critically important in achieving the stunning therapeutic benefit for individuals and populations with HIV disease. There has been growing acceptance and success of interdisciplinary collaboration to address HIV medication adherence in the past 2 decades. Nevertheless, there remain real and perceived impediments obstructing collaboration among biomedical, behavioral, and social scientists and important differences between all these research domains and clinical practice. Differences in training and expertise, perceived mission, orientation, culture, and personal and professional skills can thwart meaningful collaboration or be used synergistically to move understanding and improvement of HIV medication adherence forward. This article explores these relations and differences from the perspective of an HIV clinician and clinical researcher with a background in biology and an inclination toward behavioral and social science and suggests some approaches for their resolution.

Herbert Simon and the GSIA: building an interdisciplinary community.

This article explores Herbert Simon's attempts to build Carnegie Tech's Graduate School of Industrial Administration into a center for interdisciplinary social research. It shows that despite the pressures toward disciplinary specialization created by the rapid growth of the postwar social sciences, there were strong countercurrents supporting interdisciplinary work. Support for interdisciplinary work came from a network of powerful new patrons that were interested in transforming social science into behavioral science and that supported mathematical, behavioral-functional analysis whatever the topic of study. These patrons deliberately defined their goals in terms of solving problems, not building disciplines, and the networks of advisory committees they created enabled certain entrepreneurial researchers, such as Simon, to exert influence across a range of fields and institutions.