578 September 2009 Family Medicine Residency Education Family medicine integrates the psychosocial factors inluencing health and illness (behavioral, psycho- logical, cognitive, social, and cultural) with biomedical factors. The training of family physicians emphasizes the philosophy widely known as the “biopsychosocial” model of health care. 1 Prior to the 1960s, the prevalent view of health and disease was reductionist, focusing on organs and organ systems. 2 By the 1970s, a more systematic and empiri- cal evaluation of the interaction between behavior and illness generated a movement to integrate behavioral techniques and conferred credibility on the mind-body relationship. This movement evolved into a discipline now referred to as “behavioral medicine.” In 1977, behavioral medicine was deined as “the interdisciplinary ield concerned with the development and integration of behavioral and biomedical science knowledge and techniques relevant to health and ill- ness and the application of this knowledge and these techniques to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.” 3,4 A broader, and more current, deini- tion comes from the charter of the International Society of Behavioral Medicine, which states that behavioral medicine is “the interdisciplinary field concerned with the development and integration of sociocultural, psychosocial, behavioral, and biomedical knowledge relevant to health and illness and the application of this knowledge to disease prevention, health promotion, etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.” 5 Understanding the Scope and Practice of Behavioral Medicine in Family Medicine Oliver Oyama, PhD, PA-C; Shae Graham Kosch, PhD; Mary Ann Burg, LCSW, PhD; Timothy E. Spruill, EdD From the University of South Florida/Morton Plant Mease Family Medicine Residency Program (Dr Oyama); University of Florida-Gainesville Family Medicine Residency Program (Drs Kosch and Burg); and Florida Hospital East Family Medicine Residency Program, Orlando, Fla (Dr Spruill). Background and Objectives: Family medicine integrates psychosocial factors (behavioral, psycho- logical, cognitive, social, and cultural) into the comprehensive medical care of patients. Behavioral medicine is the discipline representing the contribution of the behavioral sciences to medicine and encompasses a broad ield of knowledge and practice. This research explores the understanding of the scope and practice of behavioral medicine among academic family physicians. Methods: Surveys were administered to physicians at nine family medicine residency programs in Florida. Results: Study participants reported being trained in and using behavioral medicine techniques and consul- tants with patients. Behavioral medicine was valued as a collection of techniques for the prevention and treatment of physical and psychiatric illness. Physicians emphasized the utility of behavioral specialists’ skills in conditions with strong psychological components compared to other chronic medical conditions. Behavioral medicine techniques were associated with traditional psychothera- peutic interventions and often provided by nonpsychiatric physicians. Many physicians categorized behavioral medicine as a type of complementary and alternative medicine. Conclusions: Behavioral medicine is valued but not strongly identiied as a distinct discipline, which might affect its use. This may explain why behavioral medicine skills were differentially valued for the prevention and treat- ment of psychiatric illness compared to medical illness. (Fam Med 2009;41(8):578-84.)