Creating an ideal social and behavioural sciences curriculum for medical students

A healthy lifestyle is fundamental for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Investment in primary prevention, including modification of health risk behaviors, could result in a 4-fold improvement in health outcomes compared with secondary prevention based on pharmacological treatment. The American Heart Association (AHA) emphasized the importance of lifestyle in its 2020 goals for cardiovascular health promotion and disease reduction. In addition to defining “cardiovascular health” based on criteria for blood pressure and biochemical markers (lipids and glycemia), the AHA Strategic Planning Committee further identified lifestyle characteristics of central importance: nutrition, physical activity, smoking, and maintenance of a healthy body weight.1 The World Health Organization estimated that ≈80% of NCDs could be prevented if 4 key lifestyle practices were followed: a healthy diet, being physically active, avoidance of tobacco, and alcohol intake in moderation.2 To support healthy lifestyle initiatives, major changes are necessary at the societal level to improve population health. Numerous strategies might help to create a culture that promotes and facilitates healthy behaviors, including creating laws and regulations, mounting large-scale public awareness and education campaigns, implementing local community programs, and providing individual counseling.3 Physicians are uniquely positioned to encourage individuals to adopt healthy lifestyle behaviors: Approximately 80% of Americans visit their primary care physician at least once a year. Physicians directly communicate with their patients during clinical encounters across numerous settings, and research indicates that patients highly value recommendations provided by their physicians.4,5 However, data further indicate that lifestyle counseling does not routinely occur in physicians’ offices, thereby representing a lost opportunity. Physicians report that they perform lifestyle counseling during ≈34% of clinic visits.4 Patients, in turn, report an even lower frequency of physician lifestyle counseling. For example, obese patients reported receiving physical activity and …

Health and human behavior: areas of interest common to the social and medical sciences.

Objectives Although Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a part of the computer science field for many decades, it has only recently been applied to different areas of behavioral and social sciences. This article provides an examination of the applications of AI methodologies to behavioral and social sciences exploring the areas where they are now utilized, the different tools used and their effectiveness. Methods The study is a systematic research examination of peer-reviewed articles (2010–2019) that used AI methodologies in social and behavioral sciences with a focus on children and families. Results The results indicate that artificial intelligence methodologies have been successfully applied to three main areas of behavioral and social sciences, namely (1) to increase the effectiveness of diagnosis and prediction of different conditions, (2) to increase understanding of human development and functioning, and (3) to increase the effectiveness of data management in different social and human services. Random forests, neural networks, and elastic net are among the most frequent AI methods used for prediction, supplementing traditional approaches, while natural language processing and robotics continue to increase their role in understanding human functioning and improve social services. Conclusions Applications of AI methodologies to behavioral and social sciences provide opportunities and challenges that need to be considered. Recommendations for future research are also included.KeywordsArtificial intelligenceBehavioral and social sciencesMachine learningFamiliesChildren

Increasing blood donor recruitment and retention is of key importance to transfusion services. Research within the social and behavioral science traditions has adopted separate but complementary approaches to addressing these issues. This article aims to review both of these types of literature, examine theoretical developments, identify commonalities, and offer a means to integrate these within a single intervention approach. The social and behavioral science literature on blood donor recruitment and retention focusing on theory, interventions, and integration is reviewed. The role of emotional regulation (anticipated anxiety and vasovagal reactions) is central to both the behavioral and the social science approaches to enhancing donor motivation, yet although intentions are the best predictor of donor behavior, interventions targeting enactment of intentions have not been used to increase donation. Implementation intentions (that is, if-then plans formed in advance of acting) provide a useful technique to integrate findings from social and behavioral sciences to increase donor recruitment and retention. After reviewing the literature, implementation intention formation is proposed as a technique to integrate the key findings and theories from the behavioral and social science literature on blood donor recruitment and retention.

The Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) Leadership Institute provides leadership training for mid-career behavioral medicine scientists. As an institute fellow, I explored the experiences of social scientists working in healthcare settings. Exploratory research to describe the experiences, barriers, and facilitators social scientists face working in a healthcare delivery and research system. Our research questions were exploratory, focused on understanding (a) the experiences of social scientists working in a healthcare delivery and research system, (b) barriers that social scientists face working in a healthcare delivery and research system, (c) perceived value of sociological and anthropologic methods to clinicians and other health researchers, and (4) to understand the landscape of organizational models that feature social scientists as part of a larger scientific enterprise. We developed a plan for needs assessment activities. We conducted a design workshop of social scientists (n = 11). Using human-centered design methods, we elicited experiences and asked participants to develop a prototype model where social scientists could find career fulfillment with minimal structural barriers. We found that social scientists feel a strong sense of pride in their social science training and passion for the work they do. They reported occupying multiple disciplines at once, including multiple promotion and reputational expectations. Participants commonly reported that they themselves, as well as collaborators, viewed social science work, particularly qualitative research, as supplemental to quantitative work. Participants described perceptions that social science research is less rigorous or requires less training compared with other disciplines. Participants identified several contextual factors that influenced the perceived value of social science research in healthcare, including the focus of external funding priorities on larger clinical questions, organizational structure, and tangible leadership support of social science. The SBM Leadership Institute created a space for preliminary research into an area that could improve the experiences and research impact of social and behavioral scientists.

Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University

Application of configurational approach and fuzzy set theory on social and behavioral science variable models needs more attention. Few social science researches have employed configurational methods of research to empirically investigate a research question. On the front of exploring unique and innovative ways of investigation, this paper discusses the application of fuzzy set theory in social sciences. The study primarily takes a model of emotional labor and employee well‑being as a case example to depict how configurational models are developed. The study examines emotional labor and well‑being, not as predictor or criterion variables, but rather as conditions and outcome. The study also distinguishes between correlational and configurational method of research and adopts a descriptive approach by taking five research papers that examine social and behavioral science constructs from a configurational approach. Scarcity of literature in the crossover between the mathematical models and social sciences, particularly for the respective variables, call for a study that can clarify the initial queries surrounding fuzzy set models and pave the way for future empirical studies. The research concludes that utilizing mathematical models like fuzzy set theory, configuration and qualitative comparative analysis in social sciences can break monotony and bring newness in approaching as well as addressing a research query. This paper draws attention towards exploring new avenues in research methodologies. Application of newer methods would not only increase the rigor and precision of research findings but also assist in approaching a research area from multiple angles thereby enhancing the research quality.

Abstract. In this study, the evaluation of the 9th European Conference on Social and Behavioral Sciences held on 3-6 February 2016 in Paris will be mentioned. Keywords. Social sciences, Political sciences, Business administration, Financial economics, Finance, European Conference, Paris. JEL. G10, M10, M20.

Human health is influenced by multiple interacting biological, psychological, sociocultural, economic, and behavioral factors. Research in behavioral and social sciences informs physicians' approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and patient care. Competent physicians, therefore, require knowledge of society and human behavior to develop essential communication skills, professional conduct, self-awareness, ethical reasoning, and cultural understanding. Consequently, these Social and Behavioral sciences are integral to medical training. This cross-sectional study examines the current state of Social and Behavioral Sciences integration in Libyan medical education programs through a survey of 105 faculty members, curriculum developers, and administrators. Findings reveal strong recognition of SBS importance (84.6% rated it "very important"), yet inconsistencies in curriculum implementation, with 27.9% reporting no formal SBS inclusion. Teaching methods remain lecture-dominated (77.9%), and key challenges include insufficient faculty expertise (59.6%) and curriculum time constraints (40.4%). The study recommended the early curricular integration, faculty development, and enhanced experiential learning.

This qualitative study is an exploration of final year Social Science education students awareness of the intertwined nature of Social Science as a subject and the role of social justice in the classroom of a democratic South Africa. This study finds that South African Social Science teachers interpret or experience the teaching of Social Science in various ways. In the South African transitional justice environment, Social Science education had to take into account the legacies of the apartheid-era schooling system and the official history narrative that contributed to conflict in South Africa. Throughout the world, issues of social justice and equity are becoming a significant part of everyday discourse in education and some of these themes are part of the Social Science curriculum. Through a qualitative research methodology, data was gathered from Focus Group Discussion (FGD) sessions with three groups of five teacher education students in two of the groups and the third having ten participants from the same race, in their final year, specializing in Social Science teaching. The data obtained were categorised and analysed in terms of the student teacher’s awareness of the intertwined nature of Social Science and social justice education. The results of the study have revealed that participants had a penchant for the subject Social Science because it assisted them to have a better understanding of social justice and the unequal society they live in; an awareness of social ills, and the challenges of people. Participants identified social justice characteristics within Social Science and relate to some extent while they were teaching the subject, certain themes within the Social Science curriculum. Findings suggest that the subject Social Science provides a perspective as to why social injustice and inequality are so prevalent in South Africa and in some parts of the world. Social Science content in its current form and South African context, emanates from events and activities that took place in communities and in the broader society, thus the linkage to social justice education. This study recommends different approaches to infuse social justice considerations Social Science; one being an empathetic approach – introducing activities to assist learners in viewing an issue from someone else’s perspective, particularly when issues of prejudice or discrimination against a particular group arise, or if the issue is remote from learners’ lives.

It is a privilege and an honor to speak with the scientific community about the need to integrate the behavioral and social sciences with the biomedical sciences and how this relates to the mission of the American Heart Association. My observations and thoughts are influenced by my experiences as a nurse researcher and behavioral scientist at Johns Hopkins, where I have been involved in a research program on high blood pressure control in urban black communities. Tremendous advances in biology are providing new knowledge about genetics, physiology, pathophysiology, and disease, creating exciting opportunities for clinical research. From the laboratory this research evolves into new applications for diagnosis, therapy, and prevention in humans. At the same time, important advances in behavioral science, clinical outcomes, and healthcare delivery have provided needed knowledge about prevention and treatment. This research transitions from the healthcare setting into the community. Individuals’ lifestyles significantly impact their health, with unhealthy habits accounting for about 54%1 of known contributions to heart disease. Behavioral and biological interventions can reduce morbidity, disability, and death due to heart disease and stroke. They can improve quality of life and influence the behavior of policy makers in their decisions, health professionals in their practice, and people in their daily lives. However, there is a gap between the efficacy of interventions in studies and their effectiveness in practice, a gap between potential and reality, intention and action, and information and behavior. This gap illustrates the urgent need to more fully integrate the social and behavioral sciences with the biomedical sciences. Three questions arise: Despite extensive studies of strategies to prevent and treat risk factors for heart disease and stroke, current evidence documents …

New Developments in Medical Student Education: Opportunities for Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists

Removing the stigma of medication for opioid use disorder

This paper discusses a number of issues in the methodology of social and behavioral sciences which concern how concepts are defined and related to observations, how theories are constructed, and how we proceed in actual research. Examples are mainly taken from experimental psychology, and from social psychology, but the problems and answers apply to the whole of behavioral and social sciences.

Judy Auerbach is Vice President, Public Policy at the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), where she is responsible for developing, leading, and managing the activities of amfAR’s Public Policy Office in Washington, D.C. These activities include advocating for sound, science-based HIV/AIDS policy and protecting the rights of people infected with HIV and those at risk of infection. Prior to coming to amfAR, Dr. Auerbach served as the Director of the Behavioral and Social Science Program and as the HIV Prevention Science Coordinator in the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). During 1998, while on a detail from the OAR, Dr. Auerbach served as Assistant Director for Social and Behavioral Sciences in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Prior to going to the NIH, Dr. Auerbach was a Senior Program Office at the Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences, where she was Study Director for the Committee on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues in AIDS Research. Dr. Auerbach began her policy work in Washington in 1988 as an AAAS Congressional Science Fellow, sponsored by the Society for Research in Child Development, when she worked on child, family, and health policy issues in the office of Representative Pat Schroeder. From 1989 to 1990, she served as Director of the Institute for the Study of Women and Men at the University of Southern California. She then returned to Washington and served as Associate Director for Government Affairs at the Consortium of Social Science Associations. Dr. Auerbach received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1986, and taught sociology at Widener University and the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition to a number of articles and book chapters, she is the author of the book, In the Business of Child Care: Employer Initiatives and Working Women (Praeger, 1988).