Nearly half of all adults must manage at least one chronic health condition that affects their daily activities. These conditions, including diabetes, asthma, arthritis, obesity, depression and others, affect more than 90 million Americans now, and the numbers will climb as the population ages. Research on self-management, funded by the National Institutes of Health, can improve knowledge about what patients, families and health care providers can do to improve health and quality of life.

The Decade of Behavior, along with the Coalition for the Advancement of Health Through Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (co-chaired by staff from APA and the Consortium of Social Science Associations) and its member organizations, sponsored a congressional briefing on March 12, 2004. Three senior researchers spoke to congressional and agency staff in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. The speakers were psychologists Jacqueline Dunbar-Jacob, PhD, RN, Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing , James O. Hill, PhD, of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center; and health economist Dana Goldman, PhD, of RAND. Virginia Cain, PhD, Acting Director of the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, moderated the briefing.

Dr. Dunbar-Jacob gave an overview of the difficulties people might encounter managing their chronic conditions, including communicating with health providers and adhering to treatment regimens such as diet, exercise, or medication schedules. Most people with chronic conditions have only one hour of contact per year with their health care providers (spread over multiple visits). She discussed the need for better intervention studies to develop self-monitoring technologies that provide accurate feedback, and are portable, to help people manage their conditions more effectively. Dr. Dunbar-Jacob commented that most studies rely on self-report, which may be inaccurate for the recall of multiple behaviors over time.