Accomplishing breakthroughs in behavioural medicine research

Abstract

o the Editor -Research progress for behavioural medicine has been observably fragmented and incremental, and it often occurs by accident rather than design. The Behavioral Medicine Research Council aims to lead coordinated efforts to identify target priorities for the science proposed, conducted, and implemented by the field of behavioural medicine.Globally, behavioural risks are associated with the largest decrement in disability-adjusted life-years 1 . In the United States, an analysis of the 2016 Global Burden of Disease study results revealed that 19.5% of total disability-adjusted life-years could be attributed to behavioural risk factors 2 . Consequently, many governmental agencies, health policy entities, and funding agencies now focus on behaviour as a way to improve the health of their nations' people.Behavioural medicine is the interdisciplinary field of science focused on developing and integrating behavioural, psychosocial, and biomedical science knowledge and methods to better understand health and illness. The field aspires to improve primarily through tertiary prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of all diseases and health states affected by behaviours 3 . However, research progress for behavioural medicine has been fragmented and frequently happens by accident rather than design. The field's four primary professional societies (the Academy of Behavioral Medicine, the American Psychosomatic Society, the Society of Behavioral Medicine Research, and the Society for Health Psychology) recognized the need to accomplish breakthroughs in the area of behavioural medicine and build on our accomplishments to achieve a more cumulative, rather than fragmented, science. In December 2018, the Behavioral Medicine Research Council (BMRC) was created to disrupt the scientific culture of the behavioural medicine research community 4 , address the field's fragmentation, and lead coordinated efforts to identify target priorities for transformative science needed to advance behavioural medicine 5 .

Progress in health-related behavioral intervention research: Making it, measuring it, and meaning it.

“…Finally, will take multidisciplinary efforts, and the collective wisdom of the leaders of our field, to make sense out of the complex issues that stepwise approaches present and to chart a path forward. Scientific organizations such as the Behavioral Medicine Research Council (Davidson et al, 2021), the Society of Clinical Psychology, and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, and government entities such as the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (Riley, 2017a(Riley, , 2017b and the United States Preventive Services task Force (Mabry- Hernandez et al, 2018), can provide the leadership and guidance that we need. Ultimately, though, it will take the dedicated and persistent efforts of the entire behavioral intervention research and practice community to achieve better outcomes tomorrow than are possible today.…”