Title:
Decision Making in Cancer: Single-Event Decisions (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 enhance understanding of human decision-making processes so that individuals can make more informed and satisfying choices regarding their health. Projects should elucidate single-event decision-making processes at the level of the individual patient or health care provider that are pertinent to cancer prevention, detection, treatment, survivorship, or end-of-life care. For the purpose of this PA, a single-event decision is defined as a discrete decision made at a specific point in time.

This project seeks to expand our knowledge of basic cognitive and affective processes underlying single-event decisions related to cancer control. Appropriate areas of research include, but are not limited to, the following: the processes and mechanisms underlying health communication; the development and testing of theoretical models of informed decision making; the development and testing of decision aids and decision support systems; construction and stability of preferences for treatment or treatment outcomes; the study of how the dynamics of real-world settings influence judgment and decision-making processes; the roles of heuristics and biases, counterfactual thinking, and risk perception in decision making; and the roles of personality, mood, and affective processes in decision making.

Description of Project:

This project strongly encourages collaborations between basic judgment and decision-making researchers, and applied cancer control researchers. The R01 or R21 award mechanisms should be used to develop projects that will enhance understanding of the cognitive and affective processes underlying single-event decisions related to cancer control. Excluded from this solicitation are projects that involve decision making related to statistical analysis, health policy, or health care economics.