With countries around the world struggling to deliver quality health care and contain costs, a team of behavioral economists led by Carnegie Mellon University's George Loewenstein believes it's time to apply recent insights on human behavior to inform and reform health policy.
Moving beyond nudges to improve health and health care policies
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Why 'rage rooms' won't solve your anger issues
Rage rooms—where stressed out people go to relieve tension by smashing furniture, housewares, and electronics with baseball bats, crowbars, and sledgehammers—have become a global phenomenon. But taking out your frustration on chairs, dishes, flat-screen TVs—or fax machines, like a character from the 1999 cult classic Office Space—is not an effective form of anger management, according to Christie Rizzo, associate professor in the Department of Applied Psychology.
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Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and policies are a failure, research shows
Two scientific review papers released today show that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and policies in the United States are ineffective as they do not delay sexual initiation or reduce sexual risk behaviors. They also violate adolescent human rights, withhold medically accurate information, stigmatize or exclude many youth, reinforce harmful gender stereotypes, and undermine public health programs. Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs have been widely rejected by health professionals who care for young people, including the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. The findings are published online today in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
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Behavioral treatment can help control incontinence
Dear Mayo Clinic: For the past few years, I've noticed that, when I cough or sneeze, I sometimes leak a small amount of urine. Twice in the past month, I had this happen without warning. And, instead of it being a small leak, it was like I had wet my pants. Is this a normal part of aging, or should I see my doctor? Can it be prevented? I am an otherwise healthy 57-year-old woman.
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Living in poverty puts demands on attention that impair decision-making
If the interest rate banks paid on customers' deposits were to soar from 0.3 percent to 5 percent, you would expect that most people would start saving more. But, it turns out, most people aren't that calculating.
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Life-saving post-ER suicide prevention strategies are cost effective
Three interventions designed for follow up of patients who are identified with suicide risk in hospital emergency departments save lives and are cost effective relative to usual care. A study led by researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) modelled the use of the approaches in emergency departments and found that all three interventions compare favorably with a standard benchmark of cost-effectiveness used in evaluating healthcare costs. NIMH is part of the National Institutes of Health.
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Which single behavior best prevents high blood pressure?
(HealthDay)—You probably already know that certain healthy lifestyle behaviors can reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure, but is any one behavior more important than the others?
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Maintaining healthy weight helps keep blood pressure low through life
New research shows maintaining a healthy weight throughout life – more so than four other health behaviors studied – is important to help keep blood pressure in check, according to research presented today at the American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Hypertension, AHA Council on Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease, American Society of Hypertension Joint Scientific Sessions 2017 in San Francisco.
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Video game boosts sex health IQ and attitudes in minority teens
A videogame designed by Yale researchers to promote health and reduce risky behavior in teens improves sexual health knowledge and attitudes among minority youth, according to a new study. The findings validate the value of the videogame as a tool to engage and educate teens at risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), said the researchers.
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Behavioral therapy increases connectivity in brains of people with OCD
UCLA researchers report that people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, when treated with a special form of talk therapy, demonstrate distinct changes in their brains as well as improvement in their symptoms.
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Training course for chronic fatigue syndrome or ME is effective for children alongside specialist care
A training course that aims to ease symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome is effective and probably cost-effective when provided alongside specialist care for children with mild to moderate illness, finds a trial published by the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.
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Finding the root causes of healthy behaviors
Doing healthy things can feel like a battle between the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. The devil impels me to order the bacon burger for lunch, but the angel nudges my hand toward the salad.
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Don't rely on mixed messages to change health behaviors
Self-improvement edicts to lose weight, quit smoking or eat more fruits and vegetables can fall on deaf ears if the intervention message is mixed, says new research co-written by a University of Illinois expert in social psychology.
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Program reduces high ED use, increases primary care visits for most vulnerable patients
Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have found that a community-based program aimed at high users of hospital emergency departments (EDs), reduced ED visits and hospital admissions, while increasing use of primary care providers.
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Study finds Narcan revived 653 opioid overdose victims in Erie County
Over a two-year period, more than 650 people who overdosed on opioids in Erie County were revived using the overdose drug naloxone, known more commonly by its brand name Narcan.
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Older adults with insomnia may fall even more when on prescription sleep meds
Taking physician-recommended sleep medications to treat insomnia may actually increase the risk of falling for older adults, according to a team of sleep researchers.
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More physical activity, higher intensity may significantly reduce risk of death in older women in the short term
More physical activity and at higher intensities could lead to a big drop in the risk of death in older women from any cause, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.
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Do violent communities foster violent kids?
Children and adolescents regularly confronted with violence in their community have a greater tendency to show antisocial behavior. This finding was reported by researchers from the University of Basel and the University Psychiatric Hospital Basel. Their new study examined the link between exposure to community violence and antisocial behavior in over 1000 children and adolescents from seven European countries. The journal Frontiers of Behavioral Neuroscience Research has published the results.
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Online therapy proves effective for treating depression and anxiety
Providing an online computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT) program, both alone and in combination with an Internet Support Group (ISG), is a more effective treatment for anxiety and depression than a doctor's usual primary care, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh found. Results were published today in JAMA Psychiatry.
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Brain activity buffers against worsening anxiety
Boosting activity in brain areas related to thinking and problem-solving may also buffer against worsening anxiety, suggests a new study by Duke University researchers.
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Researchers incorporate talk therapy to help athletes cope with emotional effects of head injuries
When a student-athlete suffers a concussion, one of their biggest concerns is getting back to the playing field as soon as they are well. While the physical symptoms of their brain injury may fade after a week or two, for a small minority of them the emotional recovery is longer and more complicated.
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Home-based activity program helps older veterans with dementia maintain function
People with dementia often have behavioral symptoms. These include problems with memory, language, and decision-making abilities. People with dementia can also experience changes in mood, such as increased irritability, depression, and anxiety. They often need assistance with their daily activities, such as feeding, dressing, using the toilet, and bathing themselves. These symptoms are often troubling for people with dementia, as well as for their caregivers.
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Women who attempt suicide exhibit different protein levels years after the attempt
Women with a history of suicide attempts exhibit different levels of a specific protein in their bloodstream than those with no history of suicide attempts, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.
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Short intervention boosts safe-sex skills in teen girls
A recent study from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds that a 45-minute online sexual health program improved the ability of teen girls to communicate effectively about safe sex.
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Study finds that male virgins can still acquire HPV
Men who have never engaged in sexual intercourse are still at risk for acquiring HPV, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Infectious Diseases by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health.
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Weekly fish consumption linked to better sleep, higher IQ, study finds
Children who eat fish at least once a week sleep better and have IQ scores that are 4 points higher, on average, than those who consume fish less frequently or not at all, according to new findings from the University of Pennsylvania published this week in Scientific Reports, a Nature journal.
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Callous and unemotional traits show in brain structure of boys only
Callous-unemotional traits are linked to differences in brain structure in boys, but not girls. This reports a European research team led by the University of Basel and University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital in a study on brain development in 189 adolescents. The journal Neuroimage: Clinical has published the results.
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Blacks' high diabetes risk driven by obesity, not mystery
In a surprising finding, blacks and whites have the same risk of developing diabetes when all biological factors for the disease are considered over time, reports a large new Northwestern Medicine study.
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When it comes to your health, where you live matters
According to a recent report, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia have the worst health in the U.S. These states have higher rates of premature deaths, chronic diseases and poor health behaviors year after year.
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How to sit less, move more
(HealthDay)—Even if you're parked in front of a computer during the day, new research suggests that some simple changes can offset the health damage of all that sitting.
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