Defining the Field of Behavioral Medicine: A Collaborative Endeavor

International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Dec 2016

Purpose To respond to comments on our proposal for an update of the definition and scope of behavioral medicine. Methods We identify common themes in the comments and provide a response. Results We discuss the relationship of behavioral medicine to other disciplines and fields, the scope of behavioral medicine, and issues related to the application of behavioral medicine. Conclusion Based on the comments of our esteemed colleagues and our reflection on those comments, we now offer the following refined definition and scope of behavioral medicine. ‘Behavioral medicine can be defined as the field characterized by the collaboration among multiple disciplines concerned with the development and integration of biomedical and behavioral knowledge relevant to health and disease, and the application of this knowledge to prevention, health promotion, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and care. The scope of behavioral medicine extends from bio-behavioral mechanisms (i.e. the interaction among biomedical, psychological, social, societal, cultural and environmental processes related to health and disease), to clinical diagnosis and intervention, and to public health’. We propose to use this refined definition and scope as the starting point for seeking further input from the ISBM member societies.

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Defining the Field of Behavioral Medicine: A Collaborative Endeavor

Clin Invest Med. Defining the Field of Behavioral Medicine: A Collaborative Endeavor Joost Dekker 0 1 2 4 5 6 Adrienne Stauder 0 1 2 4 5 6 Frank J. Penedo 0 1 2 4 5 6 0 Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä , Jyväskylä , Finland 1 Jining Medical University , Jining , China 2 Department of Psychiatry and Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, VU University Medical Center , PO Box 7057, Amsterdam 1007 MB , The Netherlands 3 Joost Dekker 4 The Relationship to Other Disciplines and Fields 5 Departments of Medical Social Sciences, Psychology and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University , Chicago, IL , USA 6 Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Semmelweis University Budapest , Budapest , Hungary Purpose To respond to comments on our proposal for an update of the definition and scope of behavioral medicine. Methods We identify common themes in the comments and provide a response. Results We discuss the relationship of behavioral medicine to other disciplines and fields, the scope of behavioral medicine, and issues related to the application of behavioral medicine. Conclusion Based on the comments of our esteemed colleagues and our reflection on those comments, we now offer the following refined definition and scope of behavioral medicine. 'Behavioral medicine can be defined as the field characterized by the collaboration among multiple disciplines concerned with the development and integration of biomedical and behavioral knowledge relevant to health and disease, and the application of this knowledge to prevention, health promotion, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and care. The scope of behavioral medicine extends from biobehavioral mechanisms (i.e. the interaction among biomedical, psychological, social, societal, cultural and environmental processes related to health and disease), to clinical diagnosis and intervention, and to public health'. We propose to use this refined definition and scope as the starting point for seeking further input from the ISBM member societies. We are very grateful for the thoughtful and constructive comments from our colleagues on our recent proposal for an update of the definition and scope of behavioral medicine [1-6]. These comments underscore the need for an update. These comments also show that additional perspectives need to be taken into account - perspectives of the colleagues who provided comments, and perspectives of others not yet involved in the discussion. Below, we reply to the comments, resulting in a more conceptually sound and refined proposal. We offer this refined proposal as a starting point for further discussions. Behavioral medicine; Definition; Scope - Published online: 23 November 2016 # The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com We agree that the definition of behavioral medicine Bneeds to be inclusive instead of exclusive^ [4], that we should not exclude related disciplines [6] but rather Bembrace^ scientists working in related fields [5], that there are Bno clear lines between disciplines^ [ 3 ], and that Bsynergy^ among disciplines is a defining and important feature of the field of behavioral medicine [ 2 ]. It was not our intention to define behavioral medicine as a discipline separate from other disciplines, nor to exclude specific disciplines from contributing to the field. We agree that behavioral medicine is indeed a scientific field, which derives its vitality and strength from strong collaboration among multiple disciplines [ 2, 3 ]. On the other hand, there is an urgent need to clearly define the field of behavioral medicine - to state what it is and what it is not. We must be able to justify the field of behavioral medicine as offering unique and important approaches to the study of issues pertaining to health and disease; therefore, we agree with Weiss’ suggestion that we should Bnot conclude that everything we do is ‘behavioral medicine’^ [ 2 ]. The term and the field of behavioral medicine would become meaningless if we would include Beverything^, and behavioral medicine would lose its current vitality and strength. Exactly with the intention of increasing its appeal to many disciplines, we need to clearly define and operationalize the field of behavioral medicine, and describe its unique features and contributions. In an attempt to be inclusive while also setting boundaries, we propose to describe behavioral medicine ‘as the field characterized by the collaboration among multiple disciplines concerned with the development and integration of biomedical and behavioral knowledge relevant to health and disease’. This definition emphasizes collaboration among biomedical and behavioral disciplines. Collaboration is the defining characteristic of behavioral medicine, while both Bbiomedical^ and Bbehavioral^ are sufficiently broad categories to cover contributions from a wide range of specific disciplines. It should be noted that we gratefully (...truncated)


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Joost Dekker, Adrienne Stauder, Frank J. Penedo. Defining the Field of Behavioral Medicine: A Collaborative Endeavor, International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 2017, pp. 21-24, Volume 24, Issue 1, DOI: 10.1007/s12529-016-9616-1