Title: Integrating ideas from statistics and engineering into behavioral intervention science

Speaker: Linda M. Collins (ThePennsylvaniaStateUniversity)

Time: 10:00-10:50am, June 29^th.

Place: Rm216, GSM New building

Abstract: Behavioral intervention programs are being used increasingly for prevention and treatment of disease and promotion of health and academic achievement. Examples include smoking cessation intervention programs; programs that help people to maintain a healthy weight by establishing better eating and exercise habits; interventions for treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes; and school-based programs to improve reading comprehension. Historically behavioral interventions have been developed a priori and then evaluated against a control group, usually by means of a two-group randomized experiment. This approach has enabled investigators to determine whether an intervention has a statistically significant effect and to estimate the effect size. However, it has only limited utility in scientific development and improvement of behavioral interventions. This presentation will discuss research aimed at integrating ideas from statistics and engineering into behavioral intervention science. The objective is to enable behavioral scientists to optimize behavioral interventions, that is, to engineer interventions to meet specific criteria of effectiveness and efficiency.