NCCIH Research Blog

There’s growing interest in learning whether complementary and integrative health approaches, especially meditative approaches, can promote behaviors that help keep people healthy. Might these approaches help people avoid mental and emotional disorders? Could they reduce the risks of substance abuse and obesity? Our Center wants to find out.

One of the scientific priorities outlined in our new 2016 Strategic Plan: Exploring the Science of Complementary and Integrative Health is to increase understanding of how complementary and integrative health approaches may contribute to disease prevention and health promotion across the lifespan. This is a relatively new area of research. The current body of evidence is small, and there’s a need for rigorously designed, developmentally appropriate studies in different age groups, as well as in vulnerable populations such as children and families living in poverty, racial/ethnic minorities, and sexual minorities.

During the coming years, we hope to:

• Develop and test theory-based interventions designed to have an impact on a broad array of outcomes, including cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and physical health
• Investigate the underlying behavioral processes and biological and neurobiological mechanisms that may be modified by complementary and integrative interventions
• Develop and refine sensors and other innovative technologies (such as smartphone apps and wearable activity monitors) that can be used to deliver and measure the outcomes of complementary and integrative health interventions
• Develop and test approaches to improve the development and well-being of children that include the adults most influential in the children’s lives, such as parents and teachers
• Develop and test prevention interventions for adolescents and young adults
• Develop and test interventions focused on older adults, including the general population and those at increased risk for depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders.

We hope that within the next 5 to 10 years, the research we support in this area will lead to an increased number of effective ways to promote health and prevent disease in different settings and groups of people.

Want to learn more about our priorities in this area? Please visit our strategic plan. Do you have any thoughts or ideas about this research area? Feel free to share your comments with us!