Health Behavior Change Lab

Overview

Director: Mark Robbins, Ph.D.

Research in the Health Behavior Change Lab can be described as having at least four themes.

The research is theory-driven, population based, applied, and more recently emphasizes cultural contexts with focus on underserved and minority populations. Research in the lab is also highly collaborative – a necessary element for success in addressing important public health problems in which behavior change is a significant factor. Research in the lab has been focused on a range of health and health decision behavior including organ donation and transplantation, blood donation, advance care planning, interprofessional education and multidisciplinary medical team decision-making.

The HBC Lab Director, Professor Mark Robbins, is an expert in the Transtheoretical Model (or Stages of Change Model), computer tailored interventions, health behavior change, psychosocial factors in organ and tissue donation and transplantation, blood donation and advance care planning. He has served as a consultant in these content areas on topics such as measure development and the application of the Transtheoretical Model. He also consults on a newly developing collaboration on application of the TTM and computer tailored interventions to stuttering management in adolescents and young adults with researchers at the University of Iowa. His personal goal is to contribute to improving health and reducing disease and disability for entire populations.