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The integration of behavioral science into conservation science and climate science has enabled the development of both novel research questions and practical interventions. However, most behavioral interventions aim to change private, individual behaviors, rather than transform the political economic systems that drive current biodiversity, climate, and social crises. In this paper, we argue that closer collaboration between behavioral scientists working on biodiversity and climate issues, on the one hand, and advocates for radical alternatives to current political economic systems, on the other, could advance such needed systemic transformation. While the work of both groups is subject to some critique, we suggest that closer collaboration could enable the strengths of each to address the others' weaknesses. This complementarity is particularly true when behavioral interventions are co-designed with advocates and targeted towards powerful individuals whose behavior could affect systems-level transformation. We use the fossil fuel divestment movement as an illustrative example of one way in which this collaboration could be mutually beneficial, and then outline potential political, practical, and ethical implications that may accompany such collaborations in the biodiversity conservation and climate change fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the business sector has led to a new era of digital transformation. AI is transforming processes, functions, and practices throughout organizations creating system and process efficiencies, performing advanced data analysis, and contributing to the value creation process of the organization. However, the implementation and adoption of AI systems in the organization is not without challenges, ranging from technical issues to human-related barriers, leading to failed AI transformation efforts or lower than expected gains. We argue that while engineers and data scientists excel in handling AI and data-related tasks, they often lack insights into the nuanced human aspects critical for organizational AI success. Thus, Human Resource Management (HRM) emerges as a crucial facilitator, ensuring AI implementation and adoption are aligned with human values and organizational goals. This paper explores the critical role of HRM in harmonizing AI's technological capabilities with human-centric needs within organizations while achieving business objectives. Our positioning paper delves into HRM's multifaceted potential to contribute toward AI organizational success, including enabling digital transformation, humanizing AI usage decisions, providing strategic foresight regarding AI, and facilitating AI adoption by addressing concerns related to fears, ethics, and employee well-being. It reviews key considerations and best practices for operationalizing human-centric AI through culture, leadership, knowledge, policies, and tools. By focusing on what HRM can realistically achieve today, we emphasize its role in reshaping roles, advancing skill sets, and curating workplace dynamics to accommodate human-centric AI implementation. This repositioning involves an active HRM role in ensuring that the aspirations, rights, and needs of individuals are integral to the economic, social, and environmental policies within the organization. This study not only fills a critical gap in existing research but also provides a roadmap for organizations seeking to improve AI implementation and adoption and humanizing their digital transformation journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth with dental anxiety are at an increased risk of poor oral health but current tools used to identify dental anxiety in children in clinical settings are hampered by several limitations. This study assessed the psychometric properties of a measure of implicit associations with dental stimuli, the Affective Misattribution Procedure for dental stimuli (AMP-D) in 68 youth between the ages of 9 and 17 years. Measures of self-reported dental anxiety and parental perceptions of child dental anxiety were also administered. The internal consistency of the AMP-D was high (KR-20 = 0.96) and 1-week test-retest reliability was in the acceptable range (r = 0.75). The AMP-D was correlated with self-reported dental anxiety, providing evidence of construct validity. The psychometric properties of the AMP-D suggest it could be a useful tool in identifying youth with dental anxiety, particularly when concerns regarding self-representation may compromise the validity of self-reported anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Security scams have become one of the most common forms of government imposter fraud. These scams cost innocent people in the USA millions of dollars each year and undercut the ability of the Social Security Administration to contact and interact with citizens about their benefits. This raises questions as to how individuals might improve their ability to discriminate between scams and real appeals from the Social Security Administration. The present study applies the techniques of inoculation theory to a nationally representative sample of over 4,000 US adults in a series of experiments. Participants are randomly assigned to one of four training programs: from general tips about scams to a targeted experiential learning program. There is strong evidence that the inoculation process successfully and significantly increases fraud detection without decreasing trust in real communications. It provides protection against both SSA and non-SSA scams, such as Amazon imposter scams. The impact, however, is specific to the mode of communication (email versus letter or SMS) and decays over time; training programs should be targeted accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Yawning is a stereotypical complex muscular movement and is commonly executed by most vertebrates. In seconds, the entire airway is fully dilated and surrounding muscles are powerfully stretched, most prominently around the pharynx. To date, yawning has been rarely studied, and as of yet there is no consensus on its main function. Material and methods: To investigate a mechanical airway function for yawning, a literature search was conducted to relate the frequency of yawning and obstructive airway conditions. Results: The results show that changes in obstructive airway conditions and alteration of the frequency of yawning are temporally related. Interpretation: These relationships, however, cannot be interpreted as causal, nor can they be extrapolated to explain the function of yawning. Yet airway management and yawning share many physiological characteristics. We therefore propose a novel hypotheses: yawning plays a significant role in airway physiology by muscle repositioning and widening the airway lumen, thereby securing long-term oxygenation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large language models (LLMs) have the potential to revolutionize behavioral science by accelerating and improving the research cycle, from conceptualization to data analysis. Unlike closed-source solutions, open-source frameworks for LLMs can enable transparency, reproducibility, and adherence to data protection standards, which gives them a crucial advantage for use in behavioral science. To help researchers harness the promise of LLMs, this tutorial offers a primer on the open-source Hugging Face ecosystem and demonstrates several applications that advance conceptual and empirical work in behavioral science, including feature extraction, fine-tuning of models for prediction, and generation of behavioral responses. Executable code is made available at github.com/Zak-Hussain/LLM4BeSci.git. Finally, the tutorial discusses challenges faced by research with (open-source) LLMs related to interpretability and safety and offers a perspective on future research at the intersection of language modeling and behavioral science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient care ownership improves accountability, clinical skills, and quality of patient care among resident physicians, but appears to be gradually eroding. Research is limited by the lack of a reliable, objective measure of ownership. Objective: To validate the Patient Care Ownership Scale, an instrument that measures decision ownership among internal medicine residents. Design: Multi-institutional, cross-sectional study using a 66-item, online survey that queried residents on ownership's key constructs (advocacy, responsibility, accountability, follow-through, knowledge, communication, initiative, continuity of care, autonomy, self-efficacy, and perceived ownership) as well as mood and burnout. Participants: Internal medicine residents in five geographically diverse residency programs completing an inpatient rotation. Main Measures: We performed exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis in two randomly split groups to evaluate for subscales and inform item reduction. We conducted reliability testing with Cronbach's α. We performed bivariate analyses to examine construct validity and identify correlates of ownership. Key Results: Of the 785 eligible residents, 625 completed the survey (80% response rate); we included responses from 563 in the analysis. We identified three factors corresponding to assertiveness, conscientiousness, and confidence or perceived competence. After iterative item reduction, the 13-item ownership scale demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.82). Convergent validity was supported by a significant association with perceived ownership (eliminated from the final scale) (r = 0.67, p < 0.001). There was a positive association between ownership and training level (p < 0.01) and prior experience in the intensive care unit (p < 0.001). There were significant, inverse relationships between ownership and self-defined burnout (r = − 0.24, p < 0.001), depression (r = − 0.22, p < 0.001), detachment (r = − 0.26, p < 0.001), and frustration (r = − 0.15, p = 0.02), and significant positive associations between ownership and feeling energetic (r = 0.29, p < 0.001), happy (r = 0.33, p < 0.001), and fulfilled (r = 0.34, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The Patient Care Ownership Scale is valid in diverse residency program settings. Medical educators and investigators can use our scale to assess interventions aimed at fostering ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Allogeneic stem cell transplantation would benefit from re-engineering care towards an integrated eHealth-facilitated care model. With this paper we aim to: (1) describe the development of an integrated care model (ICM) in allogeneic SteM-cell-transplantatIon faciLitated by eHealth (SMILe) by combining implementation, behavioral, and computer science methods (e.g., contextual analysis, Behavior Change Wheel, and user-centered design combined with agile software development); and (2) describe that model's characteristics and its application in clinical practice. Methods: The SMILe intervention's development consisted of four steps, with implementation science methods informing each: (1) planning its set-up within a theoretical foundation; (2) using behavioral science methods to develop the content; (3) choosing and developing its delivery method (human/technology) using behavioral and computer science methods; and (4) describing its characteristics and application in clinical practice. Results: The SMILe intervention is embedded within the eHealth enhanced Chronic Care Model, entailing four self-management intervention modules, targeting monitoring and follow-up of important medical and symptom-related parameters, infection prevention, medication adherence, and physical activity. Interventions are delivered partly face-to-face by a care coordinator embedded within the transplant team, and partly via the SMILeApp that connects patients to the transplant team, who can monitor and rapidly respond to any relevant changes within 1 year post-transplant. Conclusion: This paper provides stepwise guidance on how implementation, behavioral, and computer science methods can be used to develop interventions aiming to improve care for stem cell transplant patients in real-world clinical settings. This new care model is currently being tested in a hybrid I effectiveness-implementation trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the coronavirus outbreak, new and strengthened norms of plastic dependency emerged in the Middle East and North Africa region through the desperate demand for products like face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE), highlighting the tradeoffs between health and the environment. While the rise in demand has been considered as temporary, behavioral barriers and misperceptions might make these norms particularly sticky and hinder society's ability to transition to a circular economy. Fortunately, behavioral science offers valuable insights about why the current pandemic can actually be a catalyst to create new eco-conscious behaviors. As some behaviors are often strenuous to change and require enforcement through traditional policy solutions (e.g. regulations), behavioral science offers complementary tools that will make policies more effective. We have an opportunity to start thinking about ways to leverage behavioral insights to create new norms that promote a circular economy while ultimately ensuring proper adherence to hygiene practices to curb the spread of the virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All commercial gambling games are constructed so that the gamblers will on average lose money over time. This fact is often communicated to gamblers on virtual gambling games as the "return-to-player." A return-to-player of 90% means that for every £100 bet, on average £90 is paid back out in prizes. In previous work, gamblers were better informed, and perceived a lower chance of winning, when this information was equivalently reframed as a "house-edge" of 10%, whereby the game keeps 10% of all money bet on average. This paper explores whether there are further risk communication advantages to using currency framing for the house-edge format, by directly stating the amount kept as: "This game keeps £10 for every £100 bet on average." Online gamblers (N = 1,007) reported their perceived chances of winning for hypothetical games with house-edges of either 0.5%, 7.5%, or 15%, presented as either percentages or currency units. Gamblers' perceived chances of winning were only minimally affected by this framing of house-edge information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, cognitive and behavioral knowledge in dogs seems to have developed considerably, as deduced from the published peer-reviewed articles. However, to date, the worldwide trend of scientific research on dog cognition and behavior has never been explored using a bibliometric approach, while the evaluation of scientific research has increasingly become important in recent years. In this review, we compared the publication trend of the articles in the last 34 years on dogs' cognitive and behavioral science with those in the general category "Behavioral Science". We found that, after 2005, there has been a sharp increase in scientific publications on dogs. Therefore, the year 2005 has been used as "starting point" to perform an in-depth bibliometric analysis of the scientific activity in dog cognitive and behavioral studies. The period between 2006 and 2018 is taken as the study period, and a backward analysis was also carried out. The data analysis was performed using "bibliometrix", a new R-tool used for comprehensive science mapping analysis. We analyzed all information related to sources, countries, affiliations, co-occurrence network, thematic maps, collaboration network, and world map. The results scientifically support the common perception that dogs are attracting the interest of scholars much more now than before and more than the general trend in cognitive and behavioral studies. Both, the changes in research themes and new research themes, contributed to the increase in the scientific production on the cognitive and behavioral aspects of dogs. Our investigation may benefit the researchers interested in the field of cognitive and behavioral science in dogs, thus favoring future research work and promoting interdisciplinary collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Caregivers of people with cancer represent a large, overburdened, and under-recognized part of the cancer care workforce. Research efforts to address the unmet needs of these caregivers are expanding with studies focused on caregivers' skill sets, physical and psychological health, and integration into healthcare delivery. As this field of research continues to expand, integrating caregivers' input is vital to studies to ensure that research aligns with their experiences. Methods: This is a focus group study of 15 cancer caregivers conducted during a cancer caregiving workshop at the University of Pittsburgh in February 2020. During the workshop, caregivers reviewed, critiqued, and proposed priorities to support caregivers of adults with cancer. We used a multistage consensus building approach to identify priority areas of research and clinical practice to address caregivers' experiences and needs. We used descriptive content analysis to summarize caregivers' priorities. Results: Caregiver-identified priorities included (1) training and information about cancer and treatment, (2) caregiver integration into the patient's healthcare delivery, (3) assistance with navigating the healthcare system, (4) focus on caregiver health and well-being, and (5) policy reform to address caregiver needs. We identified ways in which these priorities can inform cancer caregiving research and practice. Conclusion: These recommendations should be considered by researchers, clinicians, cancer center leadership, and policymakers interested in creating caregiver-focused research protocols, interventions, and support systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plot-level decisions of land managers (i.e., farmers, ranchers, and forest owners) influence landscape-scale environmental outcomes for biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. The impacts of their decisions often develop in complex, non-additive ways that unfold over time and space. Behavioral science offers insights into ways decision-makers manage complexity, uncertainty, choice over time, and social influence. We review such insights to understand the plot-level conservation actions of farmers that impact biodiversity. To make these connections concrete, we provide a case study of the decision to adopt biodiversity management practices in the heavily cultivated region of the Central Valley, California, USA. We use results from a survey of 122 farmers in the region to test whether adoption is related to farm tenure arrangements or peer influence. We find farmers who are more sensitive to peer influence are three times more likely to adopt practices that support biodiversity, including wildflowers, native grasses, cover crops, hedgerows, and wetlands. This relationship could have important implications for how plot-level decisions aggregate to landscape-scale outcomes. Finally, we suggest priorities for future research and program design to integrate behavioral science into biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. By considering land managers' plot-level conservation decisions with the lens of behavioral science, we identify barriers and opportunities to promote environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the importance of hepatitis screening for decreasing liver cancer mortality, screening rates remain low in Japan. Previous studies show that full subsidies increase screening uptake, but full subsidies are costly and difficult to implement in low-resource settings. Alternatively, applying nudge theory to the message design could increase screening at lower costs. This study examined the effects of both methods in increasing hepatitis virus screening rates at worksites. Methods: 1496 employees from a Japanese transportation company received client reminders for an optional hepatitis virus screening before their general health checkups. Groups A and B received a client reminder designed based on the principles of "Easy" and "Attractive," while the control group received a client reminder not developed using nudge theory. Additionally, hepatitis virus screening was offered to the control group and group A for a co-payment of JPY 612, but was fully subsidized for group B. The hepatitis virus screening rates among the groups were compared using a Chi-square test with Bonferroni correction, and the risk ratios of group A and group B to the control group were also calculated. To adjust for unobservable heterogeneity per cluster, the regression analysis was performed using generalized linear mixed models. Results: The screening rate was 21.2%, 37.1%, and 86.3% for the control group, group A, and group B, respectively. And the risk ratio for group A was 1.75 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.45–2.12) and that of group B was 4.08 (95% CI 3.44–4.83). The parameters of group A and group B also were significant when estimated using generalized linear mixed models. However, the cost-effectiveness (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER)) of the nudge-based reminder with the full subsidies was lower than that of only the nudge-based reminder. Conclusions: While fully subsidized screening led to the highest hepatitis screening rates, modifying client reminders using nudge theory significantly increased hepatitis screening uptake at lower costs per person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community research and action is an evolving field of practice with multiple influences. Its varied ways of knowing and doing reflect recombined elements from different disciplines, including behavioral science, community psychology, public health, and community development. This article offers a personal reflection based on my evolving practice over nearly 50 years. The focus is on three types of influence: (a) engaging with different communities, fields, and networks (e.g., discovering shared values, diverse methods); (b) building methods and capabilities for the work (e.g., methods for participatory research, tools for capacity building); and (c) partnering for collaborative research and action, locally and globally. This story highlights the nature of the field's evolution as an increasing variation in methods. Our evolving practice of community research and action—individually and collectively—emerges from the recombination of ideas and methods discovered through engagement in a wide variety of contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral science and machine learning have rapidly progressed in recent years. As there is growing interest among behavioral scholars to leverage machine learning, we present strategies for how these methods that can be of value to behavioral scientists using examples centered on behavioral research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex interplay between media and population sentiment is a well-known, yet hard to model, phenomenon. The extrema of individual sentiment (euphoria and depression) are known to be correlated with people's social interaction, including activity in forums and social-media sites. Yet causality direction of this correlation still requires scrutiny and scientific analysis. The difficulty of such analysis comes, first and foremost, from the complexity of sentiment quantification. It is even more difficult to measure a shared sentiment of a community, due to the echo chamber effect. In addition, media analysis presents its own computational challenges, which were insurmountable until recent times, when we have been presented with unprecedented technical possibilities for quantification of community sentiment and its factors at a level of granularity never seen before. Behavioral psychology suggests that people's behavior can be used as a measurable proxy for their sentiment. Behaviorist theory has been enhanced with the proliferation of targeted advertising and marketing science in the corporate world, and a number of phenomena connecting people's sentiment and social behavior have been explained using behavioral psychology. In addition, advances in the theory and practice of data mining and machine learning have enabled non-empirical approaches to quantitative sociological analysis and development of new indicators of communal well-being that rely on the analysis of historical data. These considerations make it possible to investigate the interactions between media sentiment and community. This is the theme of the present submission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habit-based interventions are a novel and emerging strategy to help reduce excess weight in individuals with overweight or obesity. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to determine the efficacy of habit-based interventions on weight loss. We identified potential studies through electronic searches in February 2019. Included studies were randomized/quasi randomized controlled trials comparing weight loss interventions founded on habit-theory with a control (active or non-active) and enrolled adults with overweight or obesity (body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2). Five trials (630 participants) met our inclusion criteria. After the intervention period (range 8–14 weeks), weight loss was modest but statistically different between groups (1.4 kg [95% confidence interval 0.5, 2.3; P = 0.004]) favoring habit-based interventions. Intervention groups averaged 2.5 kg weight loss (range 1.7 to 6.7 kg) compared with control 1.5 kg (range 0.4 to 5.8 kg) and were 2.4 times more likely to achieve clinically beneficial weight loss (≥ 5% weight reduction). Average weight losses in adults with overweight and obesity using habit-based interventions appear to be of clinical benefit. There were statistically significant differences in weight loss between habit-based interventions and controls, post-intervention. Longer studies powered to examine at least 12-month follow-up are required to more accurately determine the role of habit-based interventions on long-term weight loss maintenance. Trial registration Prospero ID: CRD42017065589. Available from https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.asp?ID=CRD42017065589. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation marketing draws upon social marketing and psychology to address the human dimensions of biodiversity loss. Behavioural scientists with expertise in conservation psychology can contribute to the design of research projects in this field that utilize a variety of methodologies (quantitative and qualitative), formal application for approval of methodology and procedure through relevant human and animal research ethics committees, and implementation and evaluation of projects or campaigns that are based on psychological principles of persuasion, attitude, and behavior change with the aim of protecting biodiversity. Interdisciplinary projects utilizing best practice in conservation psychology, community-based social marketing, and conservation marketing are likely to lead to improved outcomes, such as reductions in human consumption patterns and other unsustainable behaviors and increases in community engagement. A closer relationship between conservation psychology and conservation marketing will lead to publications of research in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, offering practical recommendations for conservation practitioners, as well as reaching laypeople. Importantly, communicating successes and failures of different approaches, projects or campaigns will help conservation practitioners, conservation educators, tourism operators, community groups, policy-makers, and other stakeholders make informed decisions and design effective conservation marketing campaigns based on evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: General medical hospitals provide care for a disproportionate share of patients who misuse substances. Hospitalization provides a unique opportunity to identify and motivate patients to address their substance misuse.Objective: To determine the effectiveness of three strategies for implementing motivational interviewing for substance misuse with general medical inpatients.Design: Type 3 hybrid effectiveness-implementation randomized controlled trial (Clinical Trials.gov: NCT01825057).Participants: Thirty-eight providers (physicians, physician assistants, nurses) from 13 general medical inpatient services, and 1173 of their patients admitted to an academically affiliated acute care hospital.Interventions: Implementation strategies included (1) a continuing medical education workshop on detection of substance misuse and provision of a motivational interview; (2) workshop plus bedside supervision (apprenticeship condition); and (3) a workshop plus ability to place a medical order for an interview from a consultation-liaison service (consult condition).Main Measures: Primary outcomes were the percentage of study-eligible patients who received an interview for substance misuse and the integrity (adherence, competence) of the interviews. The secondary outcome was the percent of patient statements within the interviews that indicated motivation for reducing substance misuse.Key Results: 20.5% of patients in the consult condition received an interview, compared to 0.8% (Hedge's g = 1.49) and 3.0% (Hedge's g = 1.26) in the respective workshop only and apprenticeship conditions (p < 0.001). Motivational interviews in the consult condition were performed with more fundamental motivational interviewing adherence and competence than the other conditions. Most statements made by patients during the interviews favored reducing substance misuse, with no differences between conditions.Conclusions: Providers' ability to place an order to have experts from the consultation-liaison service deliver a motivational interview was a more effective implementation strategy than a workshop or apprenticeship method for ensuring motivational interviewing is available to medical inpatients who misuse substances.Trial Registry: NCT01825057. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient care ownership is essential to delivering high-quality medical care but appears to be eroding among trainees. The lack of an objective measure has limited the study of ownership in physicians.Objective: To develop an instrument to measure psychological ownership of patient care.Design: Cross-sectional study.Participants: Internal medicine trainees in a large, academic hospital completing an inpatient rotation.Main Measures: Our scale prototype adapted an existing ownership scale (developed in the non-medical setting) based on themes identified in qualitative studies of patient care ownership. We conducted cognitive interviews to determine face validity of the scale items. Our finalized scale measures ownership's key constructs: advocacy, responsibility, accountability, follow-through, knowledge, communication, initiative, continuity of care, autonomy, and perceived ownership. We distributed an online, anonymous, 46-question survey to 219 residents; 192 residents completed the survey; and 166 responses were included in the analysis. We calculated Cronbach's α to determine the scale's internal consistency. Exploratory factor analysis was used to explore possible subscales. We examined construct validity using bivariate and correlational analysis.Key Results: The 15-item ownership scale demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.89). We identified three possible subscales corresponding to assertiveness, being the "go-to" person, and diligence. Training level and prior intensive care unit experience significantly predicted ownership (p < 0.01). There was no significant relationship between ownership and age, gender, inpatient service type, call schedule, patient turnover, or supervisory experience of the attending physician. We found a significant negative correlation between ownership and perceived degree of burnout (r = - 0.33), depression (r = - 0.24), detachment (r = - 0.35), and frustration (r = - 0.31) and a significant positive association between ownership and fulfillment (r = 0.37) and happiness (r = 0.36).Conclusion: We developed an instrument to quantify patient care ownership in residents. Our scale demonstrates good internal consistency and preliminary evidence of validity. With further validation, we expect this to be a valuable tool to evaluate interventions aimed at improving ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The premise of our study was to identify the 50 most frequently cited articles on the mental and behavioral health of immigrant and refugee populations in the USA using the Thomas Reuters' WOS database. Articles were reviewed for inclusion by a panel comprised of two specialist physicians and a political scientist. Citations ranged from 69 to 520. Almost half of all articles (n = 23) focus on Hispanic populations. 32 articles employed a cross-sectional study design. Sample sizes ranged from 8,000,000 to 20. Over half of all (n = 30) articles were published between 2000 and 2012 in 22 journals, covering 38 research areas. The total number of institutional affiliations was 148, averaging at 3 per article. Our recommendations state: diversify sampling in terms of ethnic and racial backgrounds; develop a uniform instrument for immigrant and refugee mental health; and conduct comparative studies to examine the differences in the mental health among diverse communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: For more than a decade, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has offered MOVE!, a comprehensive lifestyle intervention for weight management. However, there is limited knowledge to inform resource allocation decisions at the health system level-for example, the choice between reaching new veterans with weight management treatment, re-engaging veterans who have stopped attending, and/or increasing contact with current MOVE!Participants: Objective: To inform VHA policy and planning, this VHA-wide study examines the relationship between MOVE! participation and weight outcomes.Design: A longitudinal observational study of veterans across VHA who participated in MOVE!.Participants: Veterans who initiated their most recent episode of MOVE! care between 2004 and 2014.Main Measures: Weight measurements were abstracted from VHA electronic health records. The primary outcome was the proportion of veterans with clinically relevant weight loss. The predictor of interest was number of MOVE! contacts during the 12 months following MOVE! initiation.Key Results: The cohort consisted of 237,577 veterans (87.4% male; mean age 54.4 years), who had 5.3 contacts on average in the 12 months following initiation. Veterans with 2-5 contacts had the same odds of achieving clinically relevant weight loss as veterans with only one contact (adjusted OR: 1.00, 95% CI: 0.98-1.03). Veterans with 6-9, 10-13, 14-17, and 18 or more contacts had significantly higher odds of clinically relevant weight loss (adjusted OR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.13-1.20; adjusted OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.47-1.59; adjusted OR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.74-1.94; adjusted OR: 2.21, 95% CI: 2.12-2.31, respectively).Conclusions: Veterans with ≥6 MOVE! contacts in the year following treatment initiation were significantly more likely to achieve clinically relevant weight loss than those with one contact, with greater participation further increasing the odds of clinically relevant weight loss. While further characterization of weight loss predictors is needed, the VHA should provide policy guidance that supports increasing participation among veterans who have initiated MOVE!. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which discusses ConNECT Framework model for advancing behavioral medicine science and practice to foster health equity. Topics discussed include evaluating the state of health equity efforts in behavioral medicine science, synergistic principles of ConNECT like communication technology and prioritizing specialized training, and need of a paradigm shift behavioral medicine science and practice.

Indian psychologists have been discussing multiple important issues relevant for social development but with limited success in seeing their insights being implemented in actual government policy making. With new governments and major drives for social development, is it not yet time to make behavioral science an important knowledge domain for social planning? Placed in contrast to USA, this article underscores the present need for more engaging dialogues between Indian academic psychologists, organizations and the government and also suggests some preliminary directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research from the social and behavioral sciences shows that the drivers and impacts of climate change, as well as society's responsiveness to it, are all profoundly governed by social and behavioral dynamics. Nevertheless, scientometric and research funding data from the United States and the European Union suggest that the social and behavioral sciences are noticeably underrepresented in mainstream climate research. We argue that a better understanding of social and behavioral dynamics, especially those that temper society's response to the scientific evidence, is fundamental for climate policies to be successfully adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching the history of behavior analysis can be approached in many ways. One is to embed history in courses on the field's discipline and subdisciplines (e.g., its basic and applied sciences and their conceptual foundations) and practice. Another is to teach courses on the histories of the discipline and subdisciplines and practice. Still another is to teach a stand-alone course that includes these approaches and more (e.g., their integration, relations with other sciences, the influence of U.S. history and culture). The purpose of this article is to foster teaching the stand-alone course. It has four sections. The first addresses structural considerations: course titles, catalog descriptions, curricula, certification, and accreditation. The second addresses contextual considerations: purposes of teaching history; distinctions between history and historiography; and starting points in selecting textbooks. The third addresses functional considerations: course content organized by topics and their required and recommended readings. The fourth discusses how the course might be revised by eliminating topics (e.g., the Middle Ages), expanding topics and subtopics (e.g., the behaviorisms, philosophy of science) and adding topics and subtopics (e.g., institutional history; diversity, inclusion, and equity). Given the field's continuing development as a science, system, and practice and the rapid growth in its number and variety of its members, its history is becoming its common core-and a means of teaching it. The course elucidates the field's integrity; incorporates the entirety of its community of students, scientists, scholars, and practitioners; and advance its coherence as a cultural practice., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest/Competing InterestsThe author has no conflicting or competing interests to declare., (© Association for Behavior Analysis International 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Causal inference plays a central role in behavioral science. Historically, behavioral science methodologies have typically sought to infer a single causal relation. Each of the major approaches to causal inference in the behavioral sciences follows this pattern. Nonetheless, such approaches sometimes differ in the causal relation that they infer. Incremental causal inference offers an alternative to this conceptualization of causal inference that divides the inference into a series of incremental steps. Different steps infer different causal relations. Incremental causal inference is consistent with both causal pluralism and anti-pluralism. However, anti-pluralism places greater constraints the possible topology of sequential inferences. Arguments against causal inference include questioning consistency with causation as an explanatory principle, charging undue complexity, and questioning the need for it. Arguments in favor of incremental inference include better explanation of diverse causal inferences in behavioral science, tailored causal inference, and more detailed and explicit description of causal inference. Incremental causal inference offers a viable and potentially fruitful alternative to approaches limited to a single causal relation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on the third phase of a comparative epistemological, ontological, and social analysis of a variety of approaches to investigating human behavior. In focusing on the fate of scientific ideas once they leave the context in which they were developed, I hope not only to show that their communication for a broader audience imposes a shape on their interrelations different than they seem to have in the research context, but also to suggest that a study comparing different approaches to the same phenomenon is more illuminating than one that focuses on a single approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the association between very short daily non-exercise physical activity (PA) lasting <5 min and metabolic syndrome (MS). A total of 42 females (50 ± 6 years) wore a pedometer with a one-axial accelerometer (Lifecorder, Kenz, Japan) to determine the time and the frequency of PA and the moderate to vigorous intensity PA (MVPA). In addition to the PA and the MVPA (PA and MVPA), the PA and MVPA were analyzed based on the bout duration, such as >32 s, >1 min, >3 min, and >5 min (PA, PA, PA, PA; MVPA, MVPA, MVPA, MVPA). MS was defined according to the Japanese standard based on waist circumfluence, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure. The frequency of the MVPA was significantly lower in subjects with MS compared with that in subjects without MS ( P < 0.05). The frequency of MVPA and MVPA was significantly associated with the HDL cholesterol ( P < 0.05). The frequency of PA and PA was significantly associated with the fasting glucose level ( P < 0.05). In contrast, we could not find any significant relationships between MS and the components of MS and the frequency of PA lasting <32 s. These results demonstrated that very short non-exercise PA, such as MVPA lasting >32 s to 3 min, has significantly associated with the components of MS. The specific advantages with regard to PA lasting <32 s remain unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ideas about how the brain organizes learning and memory have been evolving in recent years, with potentially important ramifications. We review traditional thinking about learning and memory and consider more closely emerging trends from both human and animal research that could lead to profound shifts in how we understand the neural basis of memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood trauma is associated with hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation and is a known risk factor for suicidal behavior. In this study we sought to determine whether the impact of childhood trauma on suicide risk might be modified by FKBP5, an HPA-axis regulating gene. Sixteen FKBP5 haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in a sample of African Americans: 398 treatment-seeking patients with substance dependence (90% men; 120 suicide attempters) and 432 nonsubstance-dependent individuals (40% men; 21 suicide attempters). In all, 474 participants (112 suicide attempters) also completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Primary haplotype analyses were conducted with the four SNPs implicated in earlier studies: rs3800373, rs9296158, rs1360780, and rs9470080. We found that childhood trauma was associated with suicide attempt (P<0.0001). Although there was no main effect of the two major yin yang haplotypes in the four SNP haplotype blocks, there was a haplotype influence on suicide risk (p=0.006) only in individuals exposed to high levels of childhood trauma. In this group, 51% with two copies of the risk haplotype, 36% with one copy, and 20% with no copies had attempted suicide. The total logistic regression model accounted for 13% of the variance in attempted suicide. Analyses of the 16 SNPs showed significant main effects on suicide attempt of rs3777747, rs4713902, and rs9470080 and interactive effects of rs3800373, rs9296158, and rs1360780 with CTQ score on suicide attempt. These data suggest that childhood trauma and variants of the FKBP5 gene may interact to increase the risk for attempting suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depressed patients show cognitive deficits that may depend on an abnormal reaction to positive and negative feedback. The precise neurochemical mechanisms responsible for such cognitive abnormalities have not yet been clearly characterized, although serotoninergic dysfunction is frequently associated with depression. In three experiments described here, we investigated the effects of different manipulations of central serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) levels in rats performing a probabilistic reversal learning task that measures response to feedback. Increasing or decreasing 5-HT tone differentially affected behavioral indices of cognitive flexibility (reversals completed), reward sensitivity (win-stay), and reaction to negative feedback (lose-shift). A single low dose of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram (1 mg/kg) resulted in fewer reversals completed and increased lose-shift behavior. By contrast, a single higher dose of citalopram (10 mg/kg) exerted the opposite effect on both measures. Repeated (5 mg/kg, daily, 7 days) and subchronic (10 mg/kg, b.i.d., 5 days) administration of citalopram increased the number of reversals completed by the animals and increased the frequency of win-stay behavior, whereas global 5-HT depletion had the opposite effect on both indices. These results show that boosting 5-HT neurotransmission decreases negative feedback sensitivity and increases reward (positive feedback) sensitivity, whereas reducing it has the opposite effect. However, these effects depend on the nature of the manipulation used: acute manipulations of the 5-HT system modulate negative feedback sensitivity, whereas long-lasting treatments specifically affect reward sensitivity. These results parallel some of the findings in humans on effects of 5-HT manipulations and are relevant to hypotheses of altered response to feedback in depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Several papers have found that Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Black women have higher adjusted odds ratios for recent mammography when compared with Non-Hispanic White women, even though their crude percentages were lower than, or about equal to, Non-Hispanic White women's. This paper investigates the existence of "reversals" of association for recent mammography and describes an analysis strategy for identifying variables that might produce them.Methods: We used every-other-year data for women aged 40-80 from the 1996-2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the 1999, 2000, 2003, and 2005 National Health Interview Survey. A consistent set of covariates was used across all datasets.Results: Reversals were found in almost all survey years for Hispanic women. Non-Hispanic Black women often had unadjusted rates comparable to Non-Hispanic Whites, but their adjusted odds ratios were significantly higher in most surveys. A limited number of variables contributed strongly to reversals, and differed somewhat for Hispanic and Black women.Conclusions: Reversed associations found in adjusted analyses present a challenge for interpretation, but could also denote success of programs to increase screening rates. Users of population-level surveys should be alert for reversals and attempt to find explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay traces a distinction between computer-mediated writing environments that are"tools" for correcting student prose and those that are "media" for communication. This distinction has its roots in the influence of behavioral science on teaching machines and computer-aided writing instruction during the 1960s and 1970s. By looking at the development of the time-shared, interactive, computer-controlled, information television (TICCIT) and early human–computer interaction (HCI) research, this essay demonstrates that hardware and software systems had the potential to work as both tools and media. The influence of this double logic is not only historical but also has implications for post-secondary writing instruction in the age of Microsoft Word, ETS's "e-rater," and the "reading/assessment" software tools being developed by Knowledge Analysis Technologies (KAT). This essay challenges composition researchers and computational linguists to develop pedagogies and software systems that acknowledge writing environments as situated within the logic of both tools for correction and "media" for communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behavioral and public health sciences both have a long and rich history supporting basic, translational, and applied research aimed at improving human lives and reducing human suffering. Through the complementary expertise of these disciplines, investigators have contributed to significant, worldwide improvements in mental and physical health. Further gains can be achieved through collaborative research among scientists in these 2 fields. Unfortunately, there are a number of barriers to such collaboration originating in different intellectual traditions, research methods, and the structure and values of academia. We identify these barriers and potential strategies for overcoming them. Several areas for future collaborative research appear promising, especially comorbid mental and physical disorders, adherence to interventions, stigma, and emotional processes. Theory-guided preventive interventions may represent especially fertile areas of collaborative effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The threats of climate change to human well-being are well-documented and are growing in number and intensity. Despite the international community investing heavily in technological innovation and policy initiatives to solve the problem, emissions continue to rise. Experts are recognizing that eliminating emissions cannot be achieved without modifying the human behavior of which emissions are a function. However, little attention has been allocated to expanding the use of strategies developed by the behavioral-science community to reduce emissions on large scales. One possible reason is that federal funding has not been arranged to select such research. Therefore, we conducted an analysis of six sources of information about federal funding to fight climate change (the Government Accountability Office, the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, and the Center for Disease Control) and examined the extent to which they are funding behavioral science research to reduce emissions. Our results show an appalling lack of funding for behavioral science research to reduce emissions, especially experimental evaluations of strategies for reducing them. Implications and recommendations for funding of future research are discussed., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interests/competing interestsOn behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest., (© Association for Behavior Analysis International 2021.)

Behavioral economic demand methodology is increasingly being used in various fields such as substance use and consumer behavior analysis. Traditional analytical techniques to fitting demand data have proven useful yet some of these approaches require preprocessing of data, ignore dependence in the data, and present statistical limitations. We term these approaches "fit to group" and "two stage" with the former interested in group or population level estimates and the latter interested in individual subject estimates. As an extension to these regression techniques, mixed-effect (or multilevel) modeling can serve as an improvement over these traditional methods. Notable benefits include providing simultaneous group (i.e., population) level estimates (with more accurate standard errors) and individual level predictions while accommodating the inclusion of "nonsystematic" response sets and covariates. These models can also accommodate complex experimental designs including repeated measures. The goal of this article is to introduce and provide a high-level overview of mixed-effects modeling techniques applied to behavioral economic demand data. We compare and contrast results from traditional techniques to that of the mixed-effects models across two datasets differing in species and experimental design. We discuss the relative benefits and drawbacks of these approaches and provide access to statistical code and data to support the analytical replicability of the comparisons., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40614-021-00299-7., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interestNone of the authors have conflicts of interest to report., (© Association for Behavior Analysis International 2021.)

beezdemand : Behavioral Economic Easy Demand, a novel package for performing behavioral economic analyses, is introduced and evaluated. beezdemand extends the statistical program to facilitate many of the analyses performed in studies of behavioral economic demand. The package supports commonly used options for modeling operant demand and performs data screening, fits models of demand, and calculates numerous measures relevant to applied behavioral economists. The free and open source beezdemand package is compared to commercially available software (i.e., GraphPad Prism™) using peer-reviewed and simulated data. The results of this study indicated that beezdemand provides results consistent with commonly used commercial software but provides a wider range of methods and functionality desirable to behavioral economic researchers. A brief overview of the package is presented, its functionality is demonstrated, and considerations for its use are discussed., (© Association for Behavior Analysis International 2018.)