Protocol Abstract Submission Guidelines

Abstracts must be submitted by September 30, 2024 at 11:59 PM, Eastern Standard Time.

Abstracts describing innovative research protocols for proposed or on-going health behavior research studies are invited this year. (Innovation could be related to the overall study design and/or the specific study methods, which could include the analytic approach.) Submissions must clearly indicate whether an abstract is submitted (a) prior to data collection, or (b) during data collection. Abstracts focused on procedures or methods submitted after the conclusion of data collection should be sent to the standard research-study based AAHB poster track.

Protocol poster presentations are designed to describe planned inquiry around novel and/or significant research questions, describe rigorous research methods, discuss methodological challenges (if applicable), and solicit feedback from the AAHB scientific community. Abstracts should be formatted as follows:

• Introduction (including study aims),
• Methods (including study setting, eligibility, intervention description and assignment, study measures/outcome(s), sample size, recruitment, study group assignment (if applicable), data collection/management, analysis, and study ethics),
• ^*Ethics (including a declarative statement indicating that the protocol has received IRB approval or the plans to obtain approval before beginning the study, e.g., “This study has received university IRB approval.”),
• Discussion (including one or two sentences only around the implications of the methods or the study as a whole to the overall field of health behavior), and
• ^*Registration (if the proposed study meets the US federal definition of a clinical trial, include a declarative statement that an approved trial registry number has been obtained, e.g., “This study has been registered with ClinicalTrials.gov.” Registration of other types of studies is optional).

We encourage authors to refer to the “Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials” (SPIRIT) Guidelines for recommended content in clinical trial protocols. ^*Do not include identifiable information, e.g., university name for affiliated IRB or trial registry numbers, in the abstract.

Links to published protocol abstract examples are provided below for reference. Please note that the AAHB abstract submission word limit is 300.

• The PharmNet Harm Reduction Intervention for Community Pharmacies: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
• COVID-19 Misinformation Prophylaxis: Protocol for a Randomized Trial of a Brief Informational Intervention
• Effects of the ACT OUT! Social Issue Theater Program on Social-Emotional Competence and Bullying in Youth and Adolescents: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
• Targeted exercise for African-Americans with multiple sclerosis: Project TEAAMS
• Sharing Health Care Wishes in Primary Care (SHARE) among older adults with possible cognitive impairment in primary care: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Abstract reviewers will use a rubric based on the criteria below to rate all poster protocol presentation abstracts on a Likert-type scale ranging from "poor" to "excellent." Preference will be given to abstracts describing innovative study protocols describing methods that can be broadly applied in health behavior research.

1. Significance of research: Does the research address an important problem in the health behavior field? Potential impact of study protocol
2. Innovation: Does the research take a novel approach to studying a health behavior problem? Does the research use novel methods, instruments, or interventions? Is the innovative related to the overall study design and/or the specific study methods which could include the analytic approach?
3. Approach: Does the protocol provide a detailed description of the study method? Is the overall research approach methodologically and analytically strong/sound?
4. Writing clarity: Is the writing free of inaccuracies and easy to read?