Research Spotlight: Using Technology to Lower Cancer Risks From Smoking & Alcohol
Up to 40% of cancers are linked to health behaviors that people have the power to change. Kara P. Wiseman, MPH, PhD, wants to find ways to improve these habits, including smoking and alcohol use, through technology-based interventions.
Wiseman says because digital tools are easy to use and access, they have the potential to reach large numbers and save lives by helping people lower their cancer risk. She shares more about her research in this video and Q&A.
Kara P. Wiseman, MPH, PhD, on Researching Ways Tech Can Lower Cancer Risks
What I love about my research is that I get to work as part of a team to better understand health behaviors that hopefully has a population health impact. I am Kara Wiseman. I'm an assistant professor in the department of public health sciences, and my research is focused on the development and evaluation of scalable health behavior change interventions, primarily focused on smoking cessation and alcohol use. For me, scalable means technology-based interventions and text messaging, in particular, so that the interventions I work on can be as accessible as possible to the people who might want to use them. I also sometimes lead research to better understand health behaviors and people's beliefs about behaviors and cancer risk factors to inform future intervention development. So my research, if successful, has the potential to directly impact human health by helping people change their behaviors and reduce their cancer risk, hopefully doing this through tools that are accessible and easy to integrate into our everyday lives. And we know that changing our behavior can be hard. So if we can find ways to make it easy or simple, that makes me think there’s the best chance of someone being able to actually make a change and be successful at having the health that they want to have.
What are you working on right now?
I have an active clinical trial funded through the NIH to evaluate the effectiveness of a text messaging intervention to reduce binge and heavy drinking. The study focuses on active-duty Air Force personnel who are starting their job training. I am also developing new messages to add to an existing text messaging intervention to increase smoking cessation support for people living in rural areas.
What are the most intriguing potential clinical applications of your work?
In Virginia, clinicians are already able to refer patients who smoke to the state quit line to receive free smoking cessation support. I am interested in seeing what other technology-based tools or programs might integrate well into clinical care to help support behavior change outside of visits to the doctor and no matter where a patient is located.
What recent discoveries have impacted the way you think?
New developments in artificial intelligence have the potential to support behavior change in many different ways, including more personalized interventions that could be more effective than what we have previously developed. However, I also want to be mindful of balancing technological innovations with people’s technology preferences and ensuring the interventions I develop and evaluate can be accessed by all people interested in using them. It will be exciting to see how this field continues to evolve!
What do you wish more people knew about your area of research?
I wish more people knew that there are a lot of scientists devoted to understanding how our behaviors impact our health and how to change behaviors using rigorous scientific methodologies.
How did you become interested in your area of research?
Many people, myself included, know someone close to them impacted by cancer. Reducing cancer rates has always been a problem I have wanted to help tackle. I became interested in behavior change for cancer prevention as a graduate student.
What made you choose UVA Health as the place to do your research?
I knew that I wanted to work in an environment that was passionate about cancer care and cancer prevention research. I chose UVA because it was already an NCI-designated Cancer Center, and it became a Comprehensive Cancer Center during my time here. I was also excited to be part of the Center for Behavioral Health and Technology, which helps me connect and collaborate with other faculty interested in technology-based interventions to support behavior change and health.
