Introduction to the special issue on translating basic science into clinical practice

The goal of this special issue is to highlight examples of translational research, wherein findings or principles from basic science are translated into efficacious prevention and treatment interventions for a public health problem. Bridging the gap between basic research and clinical practice has several advantages. First, basic science findings often emerge from rigorous randomized experiments that have isolated the effects of a particular manipulation, which can allow firmer scientific inferences than findings from less rigorous research designs. Second, translational research is often more focused on the mechanism of intervention effects, also referred to as intervention targets or mediators, which can guide refinements to the interventions that maximize clinical efficacy. Finally and perhaps most importantly, translational research attempts to accelerate the development of more effective interventions for public health problems for which we do not have efficacious prevention programs or treatments. The authors sought articles that described the original basic research that was then used to design an effective intervention for a clinical problem as well as the process by which the basic findings were translated into the new clinical application. The new translational interventions bridge the gap between the basic research and clinical practice, which is consistent with the editorial priorities of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).