INFLUENCE OF BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL-SCIENCE ON PUBLIC-HEALTH POLICY-MAKING

Public health policies are important guiding principles that serve to shape the well-being of individuals, groups, and society. Behavioral a nd social scientists can play key influential roles in public health p olicymaking. The actors and processes involved in setting public healt h policy are described and several substantive examples of public heal th decision making are discussed, emphasizing HIV prevention policy ex periences at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The signi ficant influence of behavioral and social science in each of these exa mples is identified and critiqued. Challenges to further integration o f behavioral science and public health policy are identified and poten tial solutions are proposed.