Welcome to Interventiondesign.co.uk!

This site is dedicated to improving the design and reporting of behaviour change interventions. We are interested in sharing approaches to better understanding which techniques are used in behaviour change interventions and which are associated with effectiveness for particular behaviours and target populations.

Mapping the Content of Behaviour Change Interventions

CONSORT guidelines (e.g., Moher, Schultz, & Altman, 2001) and the TREND statement (Des Jarlais, Lyles & Crepaz, 2004) have helped specify information which should be included in published evaluations of behaviour change interventions. These guidelines have been augmented by Davidson et al., (2003) who propose that behavioural scientists should also report (1) the content or elements of the intervention, (2) characteristics of the those delivering the intervention, (3) characteristics of the recipients, (4) the setting (e.g., worksite), (5) the mode of delivery (e.g., face-to-face) (6) the intensity (e.g., contact time), (7) the duration (e.g., number sessions over a given period) and (8) adherence to delivery protocols/ manuals.

Yet, we have no standardised terminology with which to describe the “content or elements” of behaviour change interventions. Albarracín et al. (2005) showed that 10 techniques (e.g., provision of factual information and attitudinal arguments) could be reliably identified in published descriptions of interventions designed to promote condom use, and that inclusion of some of these (e.g., provision of attitudinal arguments) was associated with greater effectiveness, while inclusion of others (e.g., threat-inducing arguments) was not. However, the need for a more comprehensive categorization of intervention content is evidenced from reviews of interventions in other behavioral domains (e.g., Webb & Sheeran, 2006).

Abraham & Michie (2008) provide a list of behaviour change techniques that have been reliably identified across a range of behaviour change interventions both from descriptions in journal articles and in intervention manuals/ protocols. This taxonomy of behaviour change techniques has been used to design new behaviour change interventions (e.g., Araújo-Soares, McIntyre, MacLennan, & Sniehotta, in press).

See Abraham & Michie (2008) at…
http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0278-6133.27.3.379

The coding manual can be downloaded here…
Coding Manual for Behaviour Change Intervention Techniques 2008

Please let us know if you are developing or testing methods for understanding behaviour change techniques or developing or applying our taxonomy - emails below. We are happy to post comments, coding manuals or links to papers.

References
Abraham, C. & Michie, S. (2008). A taxonomy of behavior change techniques used in interventions. Health Psychology, 27, 379-387.

Albarracin, D., Gillette, J. C., Earl, A. N., Glasman, L. R., Durantini, M. R. & Ho, M.-H. (2005). A test of major assumptions about behavior change: A comprehensive look at the effects of passive and active HIV-prevention interventions since the beginning of the epidemic. Psychological
Bulletin, 131, 856–897.

Araújo-Soares, V., McIntyre, T., MacLennan, G. & Sniehotta, F. F. (in press). Development and exploratory cluster-randomised opportunistic trial of a theory-based intervention to enhance physical activity among adolescents. Psychology & Health.

Davidson, K., W., Goldstein, M., Kaplan, R. M., Kaufmann, P., G., Knatterund, G., L., Orleans, C., T., Spring, B., Trudeau, K., J. & Whitlock, E. P. (2003). Evidence-based behavioral medicine: What is it and how do we achieve it? Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 26, 161-171.

Des Jarlais DC, Lyles C, Crepaz N. (2004). Improving the reporting quality of nonrandomized evaluations of behavioral and public health interventions: the TREND statement. American Journal of Public Health, 94, 361-366.

Moher, D., Schultz, K. F., Altman, D. G. and the CONSORT Group (2001). The CONSORT statement: revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel-group randomized trials. The Lancet, 357, 1191-1194.

Webb, T., L. & Sheeran, P. (2006). Does changing behavioral intentions engender behavior change? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 249–268.

Charles Abraham
Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychology,
University of Sussex,
Falmer, Brighton
BN1 9QG, UK.
s.c.s.abraham@sussex.ac.uk

and

Susan Michie
Professor of Health Psychology
Research Dept of Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology
University College London
1-19 Torrington Place
London WC1E 7H
s.michie@ucl.ac.uk