Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Mar 2008
ReviewMultiple health behavior change research: an introduction and overview.
In 2002, the Society of Behavioral Medicine's special interest group on Multiple Health Behavior Change was formed. The group focuses on the interrelationships among health behaviors and interventions designed to promote change in more than one health behavior at a time. ⋯ This paper presents the rationale and need for MHBC research and interventions, briefly reviews the research base, and identifies core conceptual and methodological issues unique to this growing area. The prospects of MHBC for the health of individuals and populations are considerable.
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Preventive medicine · Mar 2008
ReviewMethods of quantifying change in multiple risk factor interventions.
Risky behaviors such as smoking, alcohol abuse, physical inactivity, and poor diet are detrimental to health, costly, and often co-occur. Greater efforts are being targeted at changing multiple risk behaviors to more comprehensively address the health needs of individuals and populations. With increased interest in multiple risk factor interventions, the field will need ways to conceptualize the issue of overall behavior change. ⋯ Given the lack of consensus in the field on how to examine change in multiple risk behaviors, we recommend researchers employ and compare multiple methods in their publications. A dialogue is needed to work toward developing a consensus for optimal ways of conceptualizing and reporting changes in multibehavioral interventions.
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Preventive medicine · Mar 2008
Review"Bundling" HIV prevention: integrating services to promote synergistic gain.
Bundling is defined as the aggregation of services to increase effectiveness (i.e., creating synergy of effort). The purpose of this commentary is to review the utilization and potential benefits of bundling in its application to HIV prevention. ⋯ We must implement programs that work and consider innovative approaches to stem the AIDS epidemic; bundling provides one such opportunity to create an efficient paradigm targeting multiple risk behaviors simultaneously.