Title:
Decision Making in Health: Behavior Maintenance (PA)

Contact:

Wendy Nelson, Ph.D.
Basic Biobehavioral Research Branch
BRP/DCCPS/NCI
Telephone: 301/435-4590
E-mail: nelsonw@mail.nih.gov

Objective of Project:

This Program Announcement (PA) invites applications for research projects that will expand our knowledge of basic decision-making processes underlying initiation and long-term maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviors that may reduce one’s risk of cancer and other chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Projects should elucidate the basic cognitive and affective processes involved in decisions that are made repeatedly over time, such as adhering to weight-loss programs, exercise programs, smoking cessation programs, alcohol treatment programs, or medical treatment regimens. While the scientific focus of this PA is to understand decision-making processes, intervention studies that highlight decisional processes and studies of mediators and moderators of decision making are acceptable.

Description of Project:

This PA strongly encourages collaborations between basic judgment and decision-making researchers, and applied cancer control researchers. The R01 and R21 award mechanisms should be used to develop projects that will enhance understanding of decision-making processes that underlie not only initiating a desired healthy behavior, but maintaining the behavior over the long term. Excluded from this solicitation are projects that examine single-event decisions, which are discrete decisions made at specific points in time.