Transdisciplinary translational behavioral (TDTB) research: opportunities, barriers, and innovations.

The translation of basic behavioral science discoveries into practical strategies represents a promising approach to developing more effective preventive interventions to improve health. Since translational research inevitably involves making use of diverse perspectives from multiple disciplines, it is best conducted as a transdisciplinary enterprise. In this paper, we discuss current strategies used by NIH to support transdisciplinary translational behavioral (TDTB) research, summarize successful efforts, and highlight challenges encountered in conducting such work (ranging from conceptual to organizational to methodological). Using examples from NIH-funded projects we illustrate the potential benefits of, and barriers to, pursuing this type of research and discuss next steps and potential future directions for NIH-supported TDTB research.

Pioneering the Transdisciplinary Team Science Approach: Lessons Learned from National Cancer Institute Grantees.

The National Cancer Institute has been a leader in supporting transdisciplinary (TD) team science. From 2005-2010, the NCI supported Transdisciplinary Research on Energetic and Cancer I (TREC I), a center initiative fostering the TD integration of social, behavioral, and biological sciences to examine the relationships among obesity, nutrition, physical activity and cancer. In the final year of TREC I, we conducted qualitative in-depth-interviews with 31 participating investigators and trainees to learn more about their experiences with TD team science, including challenges, facilitating factors, strategies for success, and impacts. Five main challenges emerged: (1) limited published guidance for how to engage in TD team science, when TREC I was implemented; (2) conceptual and scientific challenges inherent to efforts to achieve TD integration; (3) discipline-based differences in values, terminology, methods, and work styles; (4) project management challenges involved in TD team science; and (5) traditional incentive and reward systems that do not recognize or reward TD team science. Four main facilitating factors and strategies for success emerged: (1) beneficial attitudes and beliefs about TD research and team science; (2) effective team processes; (3) brokering and bridge-building activities by individuals holding particular roles in a research center; and (4) funding initiative characteristics that support TD team science. Broad impacts of participating in TD team science in the context of TREC I included: (1) new positive attitudes about TD research and team science; (2) new boundary-crossing collaborations; (3) scientific advances related to research approaches, findings, and dissemination; (4) institutional culture change and resource creation in support of TD team science; and (5) career advancement. Funding agencies, academic institutions, and scholarly journals can help to foster TD team science through funding opportunities, institutional policies on extra-departmental and cross-school collaboration, promotion and tenure policies, and publishing opportunities for TD research.

The relationship among smoking, sleep, and chronic rheumatic conditions commonly associated with pain in the National Health Interview Survey.

Chronic rheumatic conditions are typically characterized by chronic pain and are uniquely associated with increased rates of cigarette smoking and poor sleep quality. However, no study has examined the possible additive or interactive effects of these two health behaviors in individuals diagnosed with a chronic rheumatic condition. The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between cigarette smoking and sleep in a population sample of individuals diagnosed with a chronic rheumatic condition and related functional impairment. Cross sectional survey data was obtained from the 2007 National Health Interview Survey. Individuals diagnosed with a chronic rheumatic condition were more likely to be a former or current smoker compared to non-diagnosed individuals. Individuals with a chronic rheumatic condition were more likely to report <6 h of sleep per night and endorsed significantly more insomnia and daytime sleepiness. There was no interaction between diagnosis of a chronic rheumatic condition and smoking status on any of the sleep outcomes assessed. Finally, an interaction was observed suggesting individuals with a chronic rheumatic condition who currently smoke are more likely to report averaging <6 h of sleep per night and frequent insomnia compared to individuals with a chronic rheumatic condition who never smoked. These results suggest both a unique and additive relationship between smoking and sleep in individuals with a chronic rheumatic condition. Findings can likely be generalized to other conditions commonly associated with chronic pain.

Assessing the value of team science: a study comparing center- and investigator-initiated grants.

BACKGROUND: Large cross-disciplinary scientific teams are becoming increasingly prominent in the conduct of research. PURPOSE: This paper reports on a quasi-experimental longitudinal study conducted to compare bibliometric indicators of scientific collaboration, productivity, and impact of center-based transdisciplinary team science initiatives and traditional investigator-initiated grants in the same field. METHODS: All grants began between 1994 and 2004 and up to 10 years of publication data were collected for each grant. Publication information was compiled and analyzed during the spring and summer of 2010. RESULTS: Following an initial lag period, the transdisciplinary research center grants had higher overall publication rates than the investigator-initiated R01 (NIH Research Project Grant Program) grants. There were relatively uniform publication rates across the research center grants compared to dramatically dispersed publication rates among the R01 grants. On average, publications produced by the research center grants had greater numbers of coauthors but similar journal impact factors compared with publications produced by the R01 grants. CONCLUSIONS: The lag in productivity among the transdisciplinary center grants was offset by their overall higher publication rates and average number of coauthors per publication, relative to investigator-initiated grants, over the 10-year comparison period. The findings suggest that transdisciplinary center grants create benefits for both scientific productivity and collaboration.

Influence of a National Cancer Institute transdisciplinary research and training initiative on trainees' transdisciplinary research competencies and scholarly productivity.

Over the past several decades, there has been burgeoning interest and investment in large transdisciplinary (TD) team science initiatives that aim to address complex societal problems. Despite this trend, TD training opportunities in the health sciences remain limited, and evaluations of these opportunities are even more uncommon due to funding constraints. We had the unique opportunity to conduct an exploratory study to examine the potential outcomes and impacts of TD training in a National Cancer Institute-supported initiative for TD research and training-the Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer I (TREC I) initiative. This study used a retrospective mixed-methods approach leveraging secondary analysis of existing data sources to learn about TREC trainees' experiences with TREC training, TD research competencies, changes in scholarly productivity, and the associations among these domains. Results indicated that, on average, TREC trainees were satisfied with their TREC mentoring experiences and believed that TREC training processes were effective, in general. Participation in TREC training was associated with TD research competencies, including TD research orientation, positive general attitude toward TD training, development of scientific skills for TD research, and intrapersonal/interpersonal competencies for collaboration. There was also a significant increase in trainees' scholarly productivity from before to after starting in TREC training, as indicated by average annual number of publications and presentations and average number of coauthors per publication. Perceived effectiveness of TREC training was positively correlated with change in average annual number of research presentations from before to after starting in TREC training (r = 0.65, p < 0.05, N = 12), as well as TD research orientation (r = 0.36, p < 0.05), general attitude toward TD training (0.39, p < 0.05), scientific skills for TD research (r = 0.45-0.48, p < 0.05), and perceived collaborative productivity at one's TREC center (r = 0.47, p < 0.01). Finally, a significant positive correlation was observed between multi-mentoring experiences and both TD research orientation (r = 0.58, p < 0.05) and perceived collaborative productivity at one's TREC center (r = 0.44, p < 0.05). This exploratory study had methodological constraints including the absence of a comparison group and cross-sectional rather than longitudinal data related to TD research competencies. Despite these limitations, the study provided an opportunity to use existing data sources to explore potential outcomes and impacts of TD training and inform development of future rigorous evaluations of TD training. Overall, findings suggest that TD training in the context of a TD research initiative can provide satisfying training opportunities that support the development of TD research competencies and promote scholarly productivity.

Biological mechanisms underlying the relationship between stress and smoking: state of the science and directions for future work.

Theories of addiction implicate stress as a crucial mechanism underlying initiation, maintenance, and relapse to cigarette smoking. Examinations of the biological stress systems, including functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the autonomic nervous system (ANS), have provided additional insights into the relationship between stress and smoking. To date, convergent data suggests that chronic cigarette smoking is associated with alterations in HPA and ANS functioning; however, less is known about the role of HPA and ANS functioning in smoking initiation and relapse following cessation. In order to organize existing findings and stimulate future research, the current paper summarizes the available literature on the roles of HPA axis and ANS functioning in the relationship between stress and cigarette smoking, highlights limitations within the existing literature, and suggests directions for future research to address unanswered questions in the extant literature on the biological mechanisms underlying the relationship between stress and smoking.

An examination of recent non-clinical panic attacks, panic disorder, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion regulation difficulties in the prediction of generalized anxiety disorder in an analogue sample.

Both non-clinical panic attacks and panic disorder (PD) have been found to be associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). This study examined a proxy risk factor model of the relationship between non-clinical panic attacks, PD, and GAD. Specifically, it was proposed that non-clinical panic attacks and PD predict GAD only due to their shared association with anxiety sensitivity (AS) and difficulties in emotion regulation. Results demonstrated that emotion regulation difficulties reliably predicted GAD above and beyond the experience of non-clinical panic attacks and PD. However, although PD lost strength as a predictor, it remained significantly associated with GAD in the full model, providing only partial support for the proposed proxy risk factor model. Findings speak to the underlying role of emotion regulation difficulties in GAD, and suggest that it may be the shared relationship of these difficulties with both PD and GAD that partially explain the association of these disorders.

Distress tolerance and pre-smoking treatment attrition: examination of moderating relationships.

This study focused on the understudied group of smokers who commit to a smoking research study and then subsequently drop out before completing even one session of treatment (pre-inclusion attrition). This is an important group typically not examined in their own right, leaving little knowledge about the characteristics that differentiate them from those who complete treatment. As an initial investigation, the current study examined affective risk factors for attrition in a sample of 53 adults (79% African-American; median income=$30,000-$39,999) enrolled in a smoking cessation study. Twenty-one (40%) participants never attended a session of treatment. Results indicated that lower psychological distress tolerance was related to pre-inclusion attrition, but only among women. Additionally, lower physical distress tolerance corresponded to pre-inclusion attrition, but only among men. These effects remained after including other important affective factors such as anxiety sensitivity and current depressive symptoms. No other predictors examined corresponded with pre-inclusion attrition in the present sample. Results indicate the need for more research attention to this at-risk group of smokers who do not continue on to cessation intervention.

The interactive effects of antisocial personality disorder and court-mandated status on substance abuse treatment dropout.

The present study sought to examine the interactive effects of court-mandated (CM) treatment and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) on treatment dropout among 236 inner-city male substance users receiving residential substance abuse treatment. Of the 236 participants, 39.4% (n = 93) met criteria for ASPD and 72.5% (n = 171) were mandated to treatment through a pretrial release-to-treatment program. Results indicated a significant interaction between ASPD and CM status, such that patients with ASPD who were voluntarily receiving treatment were significantly more likely to drop out of treatment than each of the other groups. Subsequent discrete time survival analyses to predict days until dropout, using Cox proportional hazards regression, indicated similar findings, with patients with ASPD who were voluntarily receiving treatment completing fewer days of treatment than each of the other groups. These findings suggest the effectiveness of the court system in retaining patients with ASPD, as well as the role of ASPD in predicting treatment dropout for individuals who are in treatment voluntarily. Implications, including the potential value of the early implementation of specialized interventions aimed at improving adherence for patients with ASPD who are receiving treatment voluntarily, are discussed.