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This study evaluated the benefits of enhanced toilet training delivered through the Internet for children with encopresis. Twenty-four children with encopresis were randomly assigned to the Internet intervention group (Web) or no Internet intervention group (No-Web). All participants continued to receive routine care from their primary care physician. The Web participants demonstrated greater improvements in terms of reduced fecal soiling, increased defecation in the toilet, and increased unprompted trips to the toilet (ps < .02). Both groups demonstrated similar improvements in knowledge and toileting behaviors. Internet interventions may be an effective way of delivering sophisticated behavioral interventions to a large and dispersed population in a convenient format.

Diabetes management depends almost entirely on behavioral self-regulation. Behavioral scientists have continued a collaboration with other health systems researchers to develop a holistic approach to this disease. The authors summarized the literature in 4 major areas: self-management of diabetes, psychosocial adjustment and quality of life, neuropsychological impact, and psychobehavioral intervention development. Progress made in each of these areas over the past decade is highlighted, as are important issues that have not yet received sufficient scientific attention. Emerging areas likely to become central in behavioral research, such as diabetes prevention, are introduced. The future of behavioral medicine in diabetes is also discussed, including topics such as the changing role of psychologists in diabetes care, the urgent need for more and better intervention research, the growing importance of incorporating a health system-public health perspective, and obstacles to the integration of psychobehavioral approaches into routine health care delivery.

Over the past decade, there has been a major increase in behavioral diabetes research. This review focuses on 6 areas: self-treatment, psychosocial impact, diabetes-specific assessment, psychological stress, weight loss intervention, and neuropsychological effects. There has been great progress in identifying factors that predict self-treatment behaviors and psychological adjustment. This research has produced a number of diabetes-specific assessment tools. Psychological stress appears to affect both the etiology and the control of diabetes, but underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Weight loss studies demonstrate the potential benefits of behavioral interventions for diabetes management. Both acute and chronic abnormalities in diabetic blood glucose cause neuropsychological impairments and may cause permanent deficits. The challenge for the next decade is to translate these findings into interventions that improve quality of life and physical well-being for individuals with diabetes.