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Behavior Change Study Examples

Study Examples | Key Publications | Intro

These are among the current Group Health Center for Health Studies (CHS) studies on behavior change:

• Making Effective Nutritional Choices for Cancer Prevention (MENU)
• Telephone Adherence Project (TAP)
• Michigan Center for Health Communications Research
• Get PHIT! Motivating Smokers to Quit with a Personalized Health Risk Intervention
• COMPASS: Support for Smoking Cessation by Telephone, Web, or Both

Making Effective Nutritional Choices for Cancer Prevention (MENU)

• Principal Investigator: Christine Johnson, PhD, Henry Ford Health System
• Group Health Site Principal Investigator: Jennifer B. McClure, PhD

The MENU Choices Study is developing and evaluating an individually tailored, Web-based program to help prevent cancer by encouraging members of health plans to eat more fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. Previous research has established that materials promoting healthy behaviors are most effective when geared to the characteristics of each individual person. The Web makes it easy to develop and disseminate such tailored messages. But this study is among the first to assess how well people respond to this information when delivered online, with or without email messages from a nutritional counselor. This study is a core project of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Cancer Research Network. CHS is a participant in this six-site study, and will receive $430,000 over the four years of this project.

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Telephone Adherence Project (TAP)

• Principal Investigator: Sheryl L. Catz, PhD

The Telephone Adherence Project (TAP) is a randomized clinical trial to test how a new motivational and behavioral skills intervention compares with a health education control intervention, both delivered by phone. The study will determine what gets more people living with HIV in a statewide prison system to take their antiretroviral treatment as prescribed. Many people first start HIV treatment when entering jail, and early treatment adherence strongly predicts continued adherence. Poor responses to initial antiretroviral medications can reduce the potential effectiveness of subsequent treatment. TAP will help meet the urgent need for feasible methods of delivering adherence behavior-change interventions to this difficult-to-reach HIV-infected population. A three-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funds this project.

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Michigan Center for Health Communications Research

• Principal Investigator: Victor J. Strecher, PhD, MPH, University of Michigan
• Group Health Site Principal Investigator: Jennifer B. McClure, PhD

Group Health members routinely receive information about cancer prevention from care providers, mass media, and other sources. But information alone is not enough to change health behaviors, nor prevent cancer. Research has demonstrated that tailoring health information to an individual's circumstances (for example, motivational style, home environment, and gender) is far more effective than generic health information at modifying risky behaviors. Yet why tailoring works is not fully understood. Funded by NCI, this study is designed to determine what types of health communication messages most influence behavior change and cancer prevention. The study includes three research projects, each addressing a different aspect of cancer prevention: quitting smoking, eating fruits and vegetables, and methods for presenting women with information about breast cancer risk to help them make informed choices about preventive strategies. Group Health will receive $2.6 million over five years for its participation in this innovative undertaking, which will move cancer communication science in new directions.

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Get PHIT! Motivating Smokers to Quit with a Personalized Health Risk Intervention

• Principal Investigator: Jennifer B. McClure, PhD

With a five-year, $1.5 million grant from NCI, researchers at CHS are exploring how best to motivate cigarette smokers to quit. This study compares two proactive community-based interventions: One gives only generic information about the risks of smoking; the other involves providing smokers with individualized biomarker feedback-information about their carbon monoxide exposure, lung function, and other smoking-related symptoms. The study's main aim is to see whether learning about personalized smoking-related health risks makes smokers more motivated to quit and more likely to use treatment and to quit smoking. The researchers will also examine what factors influence these effects. And they will assess the emotional impact of the intervention using personal biomarkers, including any distress.

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COMPASS: Support for Smoking Cessation by Telephone, Web, or Both

• Principal Investigator: Gary Swan, PhD, SRI International
• Group Health Site Principal Investigator: Jennifer B. McClure, PhD

COMPASS is an extension of research previously conducted at Group Health. The earlier research demonstrated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of using 150 mg of bupropion SR (Zyban) as an adjunct to phone counseling for smoking cessation. In COMPASS, researchers at Group Health, SRI International, and Free & Clear, Inc. are evaluating the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and impact on adherence of three different behavioral programs for smoking cessation: phone support, an Internet-based support program, or a combination of phone and Internet-based support. The current phase of the project is funded for five years by a $434,000 grant from NCI.

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Study Examples | Key Publications | Intro