Abstract
The Behavioral Oncology Interest Group of the American Society of Preventive Oncology held a Roundtable session on March 10, 2002, at the American Society of Preventive Oncology annual meeting in Bethesda, Maryland, to discuss the current state-of-the-science in behavioral approaches to cancer prevention and control and to delineate priorities for additional research. Four key areas were considered: (a) behavioral approaches to cancer genetic risk assessment and testing; (b) biological mechanisms of psychosocial effects on cancer; (c) the role of risk perceptions in cancer screening adherence; and (d) the impact of tailored and targeted interventions on cancer prevention and control research. The evidence reviewed indicates that behavioral approaches have made significant contributions to cancer prevention and control research. At the same time, there is a need to more closely link future investigations to the underlying base of behavioral science principles and paradigms that guide them. To successfully bridge the gap between the availability of effective new cancer prevention and control technologies and the participants they are meant to serve will require the development of more integrative conceptual models, the incorporation of more rigorous methodological designs, and more precise identification of the individual and group characteristics of the groups under study.
Highlights
Behavior has been shown to play a key role in many aspects of cancer prevention and control from disease risk through treat-ment through survivorship
Studies that explore the role of risk perceptions in health behavior have involved selected groups such as high-risk individuals and have focused on detection behaviors
The emerging data suggest that cancer risk perceptions need to be considered as one component of a greater constellation of inter-related disease-specific cognitions and affects (32, 68 –70)
Summary
Research increasingly points to the importance of health behaviors in the primary prevention and early detection of cancer and other chronic diseases. It is vitally important to foster the generation of studies that can add to our understanding of the factors that explain or mediate the processes and outcomes of tailored interventions, including greater specification of presumed underlying mechanisms, theories, and contextual factors. Greater theoretical consistency and richness would be invaluable for accomplishing a number of goals, including the use of more comprehensive, unifying, and predictive models; the formulation of more hypothesis-driven research questions; the resolution of methodological confusions; as well as the design and evaluation of more refined measurement approaches and more effective intervention strategies. Advances in study design and selection of appropriate control groups are critical for the areas of Biological Mechanisms of Psychosocial Effects of Cancer (Roundtable 2) and the Contributions of Tailored and Targeted Interventions to Cancer Prevention and Control Research (Roundtable 4). They point to the importance of linking psychosocial investigations to the broader behavioral science base that guides them and of achieving more seamless collaboration between behavioral science investigators and their public health and medical science collaborators
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