title: Minimal intervention needed for change: definition, use, and value for improving health and health research.
abstract: Much research focuses on producing maximal intervention effects. This has generally not resulted in interventions being rapidly or widely adopted or seen as feasible given resources, time, and expertise constraints in the majority of real-world settings. We present a definition and key characteristics of a minimum intervention needed to produce change (MINC). To illustrate use of a MINC condition, we describe a computer-assisted, interactive minimal intervention, titled Healthy Habits, used in three different controlled studies and its effects. This minimal intervention produced modest to sizable health behavior and psychosocial improvements, depending on the intensity of personal contacts, producing larger effects at longer-term assessments. MINC comparison conditions could help to advance both health care and health research, especially comparative effectiveness research. Policy and funding implications of requiring an intervention to be demonstrated more effective than a simpler, less costly MINC alternative are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, 6130 Executive Blvd., Room 6144, Rockville, 20852 MD USA.
authors.forename: Russell E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Glasgow
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA USA.
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, OR USA.
authors.forename: Lisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Strycker
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA USA.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hessler
authors.affiliation: Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, OR USA.
authors.forename: Deborah J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Toobert
authors.affiliation: Center for Behavioral Health Research and Services, University of Alaska, Anchorage, AK USA.
authors.forename: Diane K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: InterVision Media, Eugene, OR USA.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jacobs
keywords: Comparative effectiveness; Costs; Intervention; Research methods