Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 24, 2025
A Novel Method for Involving Women of Color at High Risk for Preterm Birth in Research Priority Setting
Published on: January 12, 2018
An international, Delphi consensus study to identify priorities for methodological research in behavioral trials in
Molly Byrne1, Jenny McSharry2, Oonagh Meade2
1Health Behavior Change Research Group, School of Psychology, National University of Ireland, Galway, H91 TK33, Ireland. molly.byrne@nuigalway.ie.
Background:
Non-communicable chronic diseases are linked to behavioral risk factors (including smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity), so effective behavior change interventions are needed to improve population health. However, uptake and impact of these interventions is limited by methodological challenges. We aimed to identify and achieve consensus on priorities for methodological research in behavioral trials in health research among an international behavioral science community.
Methods:
An international, Delphi consensus study was conducted. Fifteen core members of the International Behavioral Trials Network (IBTN) were invited to generate methodological items that they consider important. From these, the research team agreed a "long-list" of unique items. Two online surveys were administered to IBTN members (N = 306). Respondents rated the importance of items on a 9-point scale, and ranked their "top-five" priorities. In the second survey, respondents received feedback on others' responses, before rerating items and re-selecting their top five.
Results:
Nine experts generated 144 items, which were condensed to a long-list of 33 items. The four most highly endorsed items, in both surveys 1 (n = 77) and 2 (n = 57), came from two thematic categories:"Intervention development" ("Specifying intervention components" and "Tailoring interventions to specific populations and contexts") and "Implementation" ("How to disseminate behavioral trial research findings to increase implementation" and "Methods for ensuring that behavioral interventions are implementable into practice and policy"). "Development of novel research designs to test behavioral interventions" also emerged as a highly ranked research priority.
Conclusions:
From a wide array of identified methodological issues, intervention development, implementation and novel research designs are key themes to drive the future behavioral trials' research agenda. Funding bodies should prioritize these issues in resource allocation.
More Related Videos
06:16Involving Individuals with Developmental Language Disorder and Their Parents/Carers in Research Priority Setting
Published on: June 6, 2020
06:05The Participant-Reported Implementation Update and Score PRIUS: A Novel Method for Capturing Implementation-Related Data Over Time
Published on: February 19, 2021
Related Concept Videos
01:16Clinical Trials
There are four phases in a clinical trial. A phase one...
01:23Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast,...
01:11Clinical Trials: Overview
01:20Study Designs in Epidemiology
Observational studies are those where the researcher does not intervene but rather observes natural variations. They include cross-sectional, cohort, and...
01:56Ethics in Research
01:29Nursing Interventions II: Selecting and Classifying the Nursing Interventions