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New Articles from Annals of Behavioral Medicine and Translational Behavioral Medicine

SBM's two journals, Annals of Behavioral Medicine and Translational Behavioral Medicine: Practice, Policy, Research (TBM), continuously publish online articles, many of which become available before issues are printed. Two recently published Annals and TBM articles are listed below.

SBM members who have paid their 2024 membership dues are able to access the full text of all Annals and TBM online articles via the SBM website by following the steps below.

1. Go to the Members Only section of the SBM website.
2. Log in with your username and password.
3. Click on the Journals link.
4. Click on the title of the journal which you would like to electronically access.

To check your membership status, or if you are having trouble accessing the journals online, please contact the SBM national office at info@sbm.org or (414) 918-3156.

Translational Behavioral Medicine

Practitioner perspectives on equitable implementation of evidence-based interventions for cancer prevention and control

Ariella R Korn, April Y Oh, Nanmathi Manian, Sophia Tsakraklides, Lori Carter-Edwards

Lay Summary

We need practitioners’ input to improve how interventions can help those who need them most. In cancer prevention and control, we asked practitioners what they think about health equity in their work and problems they face. Our findings show how practitioners build strong community partnerships and make changes in health care and public health to improve health equity. These findings can be used in other health areas.

 

Scalable and successful patient portal lifestyle coaching training for primary care clinical staff

Maribel Cedillo, Jesell Zepeda, Bernadette Kiraly, Michael Flynn, Paulina Larios Elizalde, Emily Zheutlin, Elizabeth A Rudd, Polina V Kukhareva, Jorie M Butler, Rachel Hess, Kensaku Kawamoto, Paul Estabrooks, Molly B Conroy

Lay Summary

This report describes a training program for medical staff like nurses and medical assistants. The goal is to teach them how to coach patients through an online portal to help them keep their weight off after making healthy lifestyle changes. We worked with different clinic groups and used a planning tool called PER worksheet (predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing) to set up the training program. From September 2021 to March 2023, we offered the training in 14 clinics, and most interested staff completed it. The results showed that the training worked well. People who took part felt they learned enough to coach patients and felt ready to coach. They liked the training and found it helpful. This study suggests that we can teach coaching skills in just four hours of training and that ongoing support and mentorship are important to the trained coaches. Furthermore, this training set-up allows new staff to be trained as they join, which is especially important in places where staff changes frequently. Overall, using the PER tool enabled us to create a training program that staff can use in outpatient clinics to help patients improve their weight management.

 

Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Increases in Psychological Stress Are Associated With Higher Fasting Glucose in US Chinese Immigrants

Carolyn Y Fang, PhD; Ajay Rao, MD, MMSc; Elizabeth A Handorf, PhD; Mengying Deng, MS; Peter Cheung, PhD; Marilyn Tseng, PhD

Lay Summary

Many Chinese Americans are born outside the United States (US), and moving to the US can increase their risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes. This increased risk is often linked to lifestyle changes after immigration, but not much research has looked at how stress and social isolation may affect disease risk. We conducted a longitudinal study that followed 614 Chinese immigrants over a 2-year period to see if stress and social isolation were linked to diabetes risk. Participants filled out surveys about their levels of stress, social isolation, and any negative life events that had occurred, and had their blood tested for markers that are associated with diabetes risk. The study showed that higher stress and social isolation were linked to higher fasting glucose (blood sugar) levels, regardless of other factors like age or how long they had lived in the US. People who started with higher stress levels also had a bigger increase in fasting blood sugar levels over time. In summary, among Chinese immigrants in the US, stress and social isolation leads to increases in fasting blood sugar levels over time, which can be indicative of type 2 diabetes.

 

Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of a Standard Versus Postures-Only Yoga Session: Potential Self-Regulatory and Neurophysiological Mechanisms of an Ancient Practice

Charleen J Gust, PhD; Angela D Bryan, PhD

Lay Summary

Past studies have suggested that yoga offers many benefits for both mind and body, but researchers do not fully understand how the different elements of yoga—ethics, breath regulation, postures, and meditation—lead to these benefits. To investigate this question, we conducted a study with 260 participants who were randomly assigned to either a standard yoga class incorporating the four different elements or a postures-only class that omitted the elements of ethics, breath regulation, and meditation. We examined if the two yoga classes affected psychological processes including emotion regulation, self-control, tolerance for distress and discomfort, mindfulness, and self-regulation differently. We also measured an enzyme related to nervous system functioning to explore possible physiological changes. Our results showed that both types of yoga classes produced psychological and neurophysiological benefits, but there were few differences between the standard and postures-only classes. This study highlights the potential of yoga to impact various health-related factors, but further research is needed to confirm these results and investigate other pathways through which yoga might work to promote health.

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