Cross-cutting themes in maintenance of behavior change

This article reviews the cross-cutting themes and research recommendations that emerged from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute "Maintenance of Behavior Change in Cardiorespiratory Risk Reduction" conference. Throughout the conference participants emphasized that maintenance should be conceptualized as a process rather than merely as the last step in the behavior change process. Researchers should focus on understanding how those who are successful at long-term maintenance complete this process and on developing new approaches that can be used to help those who are not successful. Further attention to the following topics was encouraged: observational studies of the natural history of successful long-term behavior change, development of new technologies for measuring health behaviors, better theoretical understanding of the differences between initial behavior change and maintenance, development of strategies to increase participation rates and long-term effectiveness of formal treatment programs, new approaches to increase the effectiveness of self-help interventions, and better understanding of the development of behavioral patterns in children and adolescents.