This book presents a framework for developing, optimizing, and evaluating behavioral, Â biobehavioral, and biomedical interventions. Â Behavioral, biobehavioral, and biomedical interventions are programs to improve and maintain human health and well-being, broadly defined, in individuals, families, schools, organizations, or communities. Â These interventions may be aimed at, for example, preventing or treating disease, promoting physical and mental health, preventing violence, or improving academic achievement.
This volume introduces the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST), pioneered at The Methodology Center at Pennsylvania State University, as an alternative to the classical approach of relying solely on the randomized controlled trial (RCT).  MOST borrows heavily from perspectives taken and strategies used in engineering and also integrates concepts from statistics and behavioral science, including the RCT.  As described in detail in this book, MOST consists of three phases: preparation, in which the conceptual model underlying the intervention is articulated; optimization, in which experimentation is used to gather the information necessary to identify the optimized intervention; and evaluation, in which the optimized intervention is evaluated in a standard RCT. The book demonstrates Through numerous examples that MOST can be used to develop more effective, efficient, economical, and scalable interventions.
Optimization of Behavioral, Biobehavioral, and Biomedical Interventions: The Multiphase Optimization Strategy is the first book to introduce MOST comprehensively. It will be an essential resource for behavioral, biobehavioral, and biomedical scientists, statisticians, biostatisticians, and analysts working in epidemiology and public health, and graduate-level courses in intervention development and evaluation.
