Abstract
Psychosocial–behavioral interventions have a potential role in the management of chronic disorders such as coronary heart disease (CHD), cancer, and HIV/AIDS. These interventions have already been shown to improve the quality of life of patients with established disease and seem to influence biological processes thought to ameliorate disease progression. Recently, randomized clinical trials have begun to provide evidence that psychosocial interventions can reduce disease recurrence and mortality rate in both CHD and cancer. However, because these findings have been found in relatively few trials with limited sample size there is a need for replicating and expanding the size of the sample in these investigations using a multi-center format. This would facilitate an increase in generalizability and accommodate tests of potential mediators intervening between the psychosocial–behavioral interventions and the clinical medical outcomes.
