title: Agile science: creating useful products for behavior change in the real world.
abstract: Evidence-based practice is important for behavioral interventions but there is debate on how best to support real-world behavior change. The purpose of this paper is to define products and a preliminary process for efficiently and adaptively creating and curating a knowledge base for behavior change for real-world implementation. We look to evidence-based practice suggestions and draw parallels to software development. We argue to target three products: (1) the smallest, meaningful, self-contained, and repurposable behavior change modules of an intervention; (2) "computational models" that define the interaction between modules, individuals, and context; and (3) "personalization" algorithms, which are decision rules for intervention adaptation. The "agile science" process includes a generation phase whereby contender operational definitions and constructs of the three products are created and assessed for feasibility and an evaluation phase, whereby effect size estimates/casual inferences are created. The process emphasizes early-and-often sharing. If correct, agile science could enable a more robust knowledge base for behavior change.
authors.affiliation: School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, 500 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, USA. ehekler@asu.edu.
authors.forename: Eric B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Hekler
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Predrag
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Klasnja
authors.affiliation: National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.affiliation: School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, 500 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Buman
authors.affiliation: School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, 500 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huberty
authors.affiliation: School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, 500 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Rivera
authors.affiliation: School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, 500 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, USA.
authors.forename: Cesar A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D012984:Software
keywords: Behavior change; Implementation science; Research methods