Status: Filled – Intern: Shaun (Alexander) Kuo
Intern: Shaun (Alexander) Kuo
Faculty Name: dori-pekmezi
UAB Department: Health Behavior
UAB School: Public Health
Campus Address: 227p
Telephone Number: (205) 975-8061
Email: dpekmezi@uab.edu or Click to Send E-Mail
For how many summers have you served as a preceptor: 3 or more
CCC Research Area: Cancer Control and Population Science
Number of hours per week that the preceptor will personally supervise or work with the intern: 4
Other faculty, staff, or graduate students who may help to supervise the intern:
1. Kevin Fontaine
2. na
Title of Project: 21DP – Sequential vs. simultaneous approaches to multiple behavior change in cancer survivors.
Project Description:
Among cancer survivors, health risks (poor diet, physical inactivity) tend not to occur in isolation, rather they cluster together, amplifying the risk for second primaries and cancer recurrence, as well as other comorbidities. Intervention strategies that effectively address multiple health behaviors are needed for this population and may have a greater impact on public health than single-behavior interventions. In a recent systematic review of multiple health behavior change in adults with or at risk for cancer, 8 out of 10 interventions produced improvements in least two health behaviors (poor diet, physical activity). Intervening on multiple behaviors at the same time has appeal in terms of efficiency, especially if the change processes for each behavior are similar and/or inter-related. For example, exercise can serve as a healthy substitution for snacking in stressful situations. Moreover, success in improving one lifestyle behavior may lead to increased self-efficacy to modify others and serve as a “gateway” to a healthy lifestyle.
However, the best approach to multiple behavior change has yet to be determined. A key research question is whether to intervene on multiple behaviors simultaneously or promote changes in behaviors one at a time. A recent systematic review of randomized trials testing simultaneous versus sequential multiple health behavior change interventions among adults produced mixed findings, as half the studies showed no differences, 2 favored sequential and another favored simultaneous. Focusing on multiple behaviors simultaneously allows participants to receive all of the relevant health information up front but can overwhelm and lead to dropout. In fact, some studies indicate that attrition is greater for simultaneous vs. sequential interventions that target the same behaviors and increases with the number of risk behaviors targeted. Given an inverse relationship between the number of risk behaviors (poor diet, excess weight, inactivity) and factors such as income and education, addressing multiple behavior change simultaneously could potentially result in losing the engagement of underserved cancer survivors who are most in need of intervention.
Finally, there is a paucity of multiple behavior change intervention research among cancer survivors. Understanding the best approach to intervening upon multiple behaviors in cancer survivors, especially older, rural, and underserved, could substantially improve their quality of life, reduce prevalence of chronic disease and the burden it places on the public and the health care system. Thus the proposed project seeks to determine the relative efficacy of simultaneous vs. sequential multiple behavior (diet and exercise) interventions and explore which combination or sequential order is best to maximize positive change for cancer survivors, in a randomized controlled trial with 652 cancer survivors from mostly older, rural, and underserved groups.
Project Status: Will begin on or before the CaRES student’s start date
Location of Project: Birmingham, AL (UAB)
Proposed Start Date: May 4, 2020
Proposed End Date: August 28, 2020
Expected work schedule for intern: Flexible, intern can largely set his or her own schedule (as for students who are instructed how to proceed and are permitted to work independently with weekly guidance) and should contribute full-time effort.
Category of Project: Community-Based or Field Research
Cancer topic: Obesity
Does this project involve human subjects: Yes
Does this project involve animal subjects: No
Duty:
1.
collect data
2.
participate in intervention delivery and quality control
3.
attend research team meetings.
Preceptor will provide intern with access to the following:
Office or desk space, Computer and printer, Supplies needed to complete project, Equipment needed to complete project
Likelihood that intern will be included as an author on one or more publications
related to this summer research project: Very likely
Areas in which the ideal candidates will have experience:
NONE OF THE ABOVE (just the willingness to learn)
