Health Behavior Change in the Spotlight

On March 6-8 in Washington, DC, I attended the Annual Meeting of the Society. of Behavioral Medicine. If you're not familiar with SBM, their trademark is "Proven Science. Better Health" and are professionals "dedicated to improving health and quality of life through proven behavioral science." This is the holy grail of healthcare reform today: using evidence-based practice to improve health - and they are proving it every day. The conference feature dozens of sessions and posters on a range of health conditions and wellness strategies.

One panel that exemplifies this approach was on helping people with mental health utilize technology in their treatment:

• Mental Health America about their data on mental health screening tools
• PatientsLikeMe on supporting those with major depression including a presentation by a participant in their forums on the tools she uses to cope including games and mindfulness apps.
• Digital psychiatry on the lack of evidence for effectiveness of mental health apps.

Another panel, pictured above, presenting how behavioral scientist can successfully move from academia to digital health companies but one must learn a new vocabulary and understand where they can contribute successfully.

Also, there were amazing keynote presentations including Health and Technology Megatrends by Susannah Fox and "Celebrity Culture, Social Media, and the Battle for Our Health" by Tim Caulfield, author of several books and a Netflix series.

More of this rich content is available because SBM’s meeting is registered in the Center for Open Science meetings database. Also, check out the very active #SBM2019 Twitter stream from the meeting.

Overall, the Society of Behavioral Medicine is demonstrating how to develop evidence around health behavior change in the digital age and can be an excellent partner in moving medicine forward toward transformation.