View BCTT. A mobile app version of the taxonomy is freely available to allow more flexible use of the BCTT by intervention developers and researchers. This enables users to explore the structure of the taxonomy, as well as view definitions and examples of BCTs.

New versions of the app have been recently launched on ITunes and Google Play. Michie, S, Richardson, M, Johnston, M, Abraham, C, Francis, J, Hardeman, W, Eccles, MP, Cane, J, Wood, CE.

The Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy v1 of 93 Hierarchically Clustered Techniques: Building an International Consensus for the Reporting of Behavior Change Interventions.

Annals of Behavioral Medicine. An open access online repository of published papers reporting interventions coded by BCTT has over papers, providing a resource for the research community. It includes instructions for users to upload new research papers with interventions coded using BCTT. Full guidance on how to do this is provided on the website.

The effectiveness of behaviour change interventions depends on good understanding of the links between behaviour change techniques BCTs and their Mechanisms of Action MoAs i.

the processes through which they affect behaviour. Considerable progress has been made in developing a method for specifying BCTs. The Theories and Techniques project developed and applied a methodology for linking BCTs to their hypothesised MoAs see project protocol: rdcu.

The tool is a heat map of 74 BCTs and 26 Mechanisms of Action MoAs resulting in cells. Each cell represents the link between a BCT and an MoA, with stronger links represented in green. Several approaches aim to help you change your habits.

Planning and goal setting are proven methods in mental health interventions for behavioral change Keyworth et al. Goal definition, e.

To achieve goals in the long run, it is important to establish new good habits and undo existing bad habits Clear, One way to adopt new habits can be by changing your environment.

If you, for example, want to do more sports to become healthier and fitter, you can prepare before going to bed by arranging your sports clothes or other necessities. Self-tracking and self-contracts are valuable tools to promote the development of habits.

If we want to change something in our lives, we will probably adjust how we behave. Otherwise, we will get more of the same. Nonetheless, we want to stress that you should also be grateful for your prior transformations and proud of current, positive behavior patterns.

Although models provide a useful, evidence-based background for behavioral interventions, it is helpful to have behavior change techniques to apply these ideas. It is a way to create new habits and has been effective in a multitude of situations Gollwitzer, Motivational interviewing helps individuals gain clarity in their thoughts and motivations for change, and identifies barriers to change so that solutions can be considered.

This is known as change talk. Motivational interviewing is a process of guiding rather than directing, helping a client to identify their strengths and goals, and improving their sense of self-efficacy and autonomy.

In this nine-minute talk, American psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author Judson Brewer suggests that mindfulness can be a useful method in behavior change. He invites us to notice our urge toward a certain behavior, be curious about why we have the urge, and decide whether the behavior is truly rewarding or whether we can let it go.

On our site, we have several resources that are invaluable for implementing behavior changes. To help, check out some of the following:. If your aim is to design interventions that are effective in helping clients change their behavior, then understanding the theories and models of behavior change is a useful first step.

Behavior change is more complicated than having the knowledge or even the right intentions to behave a certain way. We hope that this article gave you the guidance, inspiration, techniques, and resources you need to help your clients implement change.

About the author Nicole is a behavioral scientist and writer based in Perth, Western Australia. Her research interests lie at the intersection between wellbeing, personal energy, and positive psychology, and her work appears in several top business journals, including the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

How useful was this article to you? Not useful at all Very useful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Submit Share this article:. This article is really doing great work. Concerning with my course unit of Behavioural Change, as a Psychology student.

A sum of Applaud to the author. Here is a site from Boston University with some great details about the model.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Motivation is vital to beginning and maintaining healthy behavior in the workplace, education, and beyond, and it drives us toward our desired outcomes Zajda, Goal setting is vital in business, education, and performance environments such as sports, yet it is also a key component of many coaching and counseling [ Clients seeking professional help from a counselor or therapist are often aware they need to change yet may not be ready to begin their journey.

Home Blog Store Team About CCE Reviews Contact Login. What Is Behavior Change in Psychology? Scientifically reviewed by Maike Neuhaus Ph. Can the answer to this question help us change our less desirable behaviors? Changing less desirable behaviors can help individuals, communities, and our environment.

This Article Contains: What Is Behavioral Change? How to Elicit Behavior Change: 4 Techniques Helpful Resources From PositivePsychology.

com A Take-Home Message References. Download PDF. Download 3 Free Goals Pack PDF By filling out your name and email address below. Your expertise Therapy Coaching Education Counseling Business Healthcare Other.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Behavioral Change. References Bandura, A. Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Asian Journal of Social Psychology , 2 1 , 21— Clear, J. How To Start New Habits That Actually Stick. Davis, R. Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: A scoping review.

Health Psychology Review , 9 3 , — Fisher, J. Changing AIDS-risk behavior. Psychological Bulletin , 3 , — Gollwitzer, P. Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist , 54 7 , — Keyworth, C. Delivering opportunistic behavior change interventions: a systematic review of systematic reviews.

Prevention Science, 21 3 , Kremer, J. Pure sport: Sport psychology in action. Locke, E. Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A year odyssey.

American Psychologist, 57 9 , Madden, T. A comparison of the theory of planned behavior and the theory of reasoned action. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 18 1 , 3—9. Michie, S. The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions.

Implementation Science , 6 , Orbell, S. The handbook of behavior change, Prochaska, J. Systems of psychotherapy: A transtheoretical analysis. Dorsey Press. Transtheoretical therapy: Toward a more integrative model of change.

Rubak, S. Motivational interviewing: A systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of General Practice , 55 , — Swann, C. Health systems and health-related behaviour change: A review of primary and secondary evidence. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Verplanken, B.

If you are currently taking action toward achieving a goal, congratulate and reward yourself for any positive steps you take. Reinforcement and support are extremely important in helping maintain positive steps toward change.

Take the time to periodically review your motivations , resources, and progress in order to refresh your commitment and belief in your abilities. The maintenance phase of the stages of change model involves successfully avoiding former behaviors and keeping up new behaviors.

If you are trying to maintain a new behavior, look for ways to avoid temptation. Try replacing old habits with more positive actions. Reward yourself when you are able to successfully avoid a relapse.

Instead, remind yourself that it was just a minor setback. As you will learn in the next stage, relapses are common and are a part of the process of making a lifelong change.

In any behavior change, relapses are a common occurrence. When you go through a relapse, you might experience feelings of failure , disappointment, and frustration. The key to success is to not let these setbacks undermine your self-confidence.

If you lapse back to an old behavior, take a hard look at why it happened. What triggered the relapse? What can you do to avoid these triggers in the future?

While relapses can be difficult, the best solution is to start again with the preparation, action, or maintenance stages of behavior change. Consider reassessing your resources and techniques. Reaffirm your motivation, plan of action, and commitment to your goals. Also, make plans for how you will deal with any future temptations.

Resolutions fail when the proper preparation and actions are not taken. By approaching a goal with an understanding of how to best prepare, act, and maintain a new behavior, you will be more likely to succeed.

Sometimes, no matter how determined a person is, the obstacles to change are nearly insurmountable without help--or at the very least, infinitely easier with it. For example, overcoming a substance misuse disorder generally requires the expertise of a specialist to help smooth the rehabilitation process and foster your mental and physical health.

They can provide therapy, medication, and other proven supports. Talk with your healthcare provider about the options. Making a major change and sticking to it aren't easy. You may be more successful in keeping your resolutions by using these steps.

Many clinical programs for behavior change use the stages of change model for issues from smoking cessation to substance misuse recovery. In fact, if you go with a structured program to support your change, you might see the steps outlined here.

Prochaska JO, Velicer WF. The transtheoretical model of health behavior change. Am J Health Promot. LaMorte W. The transtheoretical model stages of change. Boston University School of Public Health. Mastellos N, Gunn LH, Felix LM, Car J, Majeed A.

Transtheoretical model stages of change for dietary and physical exercise modification in weight loss management for overweight and obese adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev.

LaMorte WW. The transtheoretical model Stages of Change. By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book. Use limited data to select advertising.

Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources.

Develop and improve services. Use limited data to select content. List of Partners vendors. This is why it is helpful to identify these issues in advance and create plans for when they occur. As described in the theories and models above, there are many elements at play that determine how successful a behavior change will be.

Having the intention does not necessarily translate into the behavior Gollwitzer, A meta-analysis by Webb and Sheeran found that a medium-to-large change in intention leads to a small-to-medium change in behavior, known as the intention—behavior gap. Change is difficult, and you will probably face setbacks during your progress.

Habits are easy and helpful in freeing up resources by making small decisions and non-decisions. As this quote suggests, genuine change comes from within ourselves when we are willing to change our behavior. Motivation and resilience are important factors in initiating change, overcoming resistance, and remaining determined.

It is helpful to identify the psychological capital available to you to support you along the journey of behavioral change. Several approaches aim to help you change your habits. Planning and goal setting are proven methods in mental health interventions for behavioral change Keyworth et al.

Goal definition, e. To achieve goals in the long run, it is important to establish new good habits and undo existing bad habits Clear, One way to adopt new habits can be by changing your environment.

If you, for example, want to do more sports to become healthier and fitter, you can prepare before going to bed by arranging your sports clothes or other necessities. Self-tracking and self-contracts are valuable tools to promote the development of habits. If we want to change something in our lives, we will probably adjust how we behave.

Otherwise, we will get more of the same. Nonetheless, we want to stress that you should also be grateful for your prior transformations and proud of current, positive behavior patterns. Although models provide a useful, evidence-based background for behavioral interventions, it is helpful to have behavior change techniques to apply these ideas.

It is a way to create new habits and has been effective in a multitude of situations Gollwitzer, Motivational interviewing helps individuals gain clarity in their thoughts and motivations for change, and identifies barriers to change so that solutions can be considered.

This is known as change talk. Motivational interviewing is a process of guiding rather than directing, helping a client to identify their strengths and goals, and improving their sense of self-efficacy and autonomy. In this nine-minute talk, American psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author Judson Brewer suggests that mindfulness can be a useful method in behavior change.

He invites us to notice our urge toward a certain behavior, be curious about why we have the urge, and decide whether the behavior is truly rewarding or whether we can let it go. On our site, we have several resources that are invaluable for implementing behavior changes. To help, check out some of the following:.

If your aim is to design interventions that are effective in helping clients change their behavior, then understanding the theories and models of behavior change is a useful first step. Behavior change is more complicated than having the knowledge or even the right intentions to behave a certain way.

We hope that this article gave you the guidance, inspiration, techniques, and resources you need to help your clients implement change. About the author Nicole is a behavioral scientist and writer based in Perth, Western Australia.

Her research interests lie at the intersection between wellbeing, personal energy, and positive psychology, and her work appears in several top business journals, including the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

How useful was this article to you? Not useful at all Very useful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Submit Share this article:.

This article is really doing great work. Concerning with my course unit of Behavioural Change, as a Psychology student. A sum of Applaud to the author. Here is a site from Boston University with some great details about the model. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Motivation is vital to beginning and maintaining healthy behavior in the workplace, education, and beyond, and it drives us toward our desired outcomes Zajda, Goal setting is vital in business, education, and performance environments such as sports, yet it is also a key component of many coaching and counseling [ Clients seeking professional help from a counselor or therapist are often aware they need to change yet may not be ready to begin their journey.

Home Blog Store Team About CCE Reviews Contact Login. What Is Behavior Change in Psychology? Scientifically reviewed by Maike Neuhaus Ph.

Can the answer to this question help us change our less desirable behaviors? Changing less desirable behaviors can help individuals, communities, and our environment. This Article Contains: What Is Behavioral Change?

How to Elicit Behavior Change: 4 Techniques Helpful Resources From PositivePsychology. com A Take-Home Message References. Download PDF. Download 3 Free Goals Pack PDF By filling out your name and email address below.

Your expertise Therapy Coaching Education Counseling Business Healthcare Other. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Behavioral Change. References Bandura, A. Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective.

Asian Journal of Social Psychology , 2 1 , 21— These measures have been implemented by governments across the globe, however, according to West and colleagues, there is an urgent need to create interventions that improve human adherence.

The authors employed the COM-B model to understand how capability, opportunity, and motivation affect adherence to COVID guidelines. They also employed the related behavior change wheel to identify the categories of intervention that should be included in the behavior change strategy; education, persuasion, incentivization, coercion, enablement, training, restriction, environmental restructuring, and modelling.

West and colleagues found that interventions should target behaviors such as isolation and social distancing measures, specifically.

They conclude that behavioral science models and methods, such as the COM-B, can be used to developing and evaluate such interventions.

Stages of Change: How to Motivate and Reinforce Desired Behaviors. If you are interested in learning more about changing human behavior, this article outlines the tool of motivation, as well as how behavior change occurs through a series of stages.

A Nudge a Day Keeps the Doctor Away. If you are interested in reading more about how behavioral science is applied in the medical world, this article outlines how automaticity in our actions may be responsible for sub-optimal health behaviors.

The COM-B Model for Behavior Change. The Basic Idea The Basic Idea Key Terms History People Consequences Controversies Case study Related TDL resources Sources. The Basic Idea Key Terms History People Susan Michie Consequences Controversies Case study Related TDL resources Sources.

What is a Framework? The Basic Idea. Theory, meet practice. How do we effectively create a long-lasting change in behavior? Key Terms. Susan Michie. In more detail, the three factors are: Capability Recall that capability in the context of COM-B refers to whether we have the knowledge, skills and abilities to engage in a behavior.

This capability comprises mental state, knowledge and skills, and physical strength. For example, to make an individual feel capable of performing a behavior or achieving an outcome, implementing a training session to help support learning of that behavior may boost feelings of capability.

Opportunity Recall that opportunity in the context of COM-B refers to external factors that make execution of a behavior possible. Physical opportunity, opportunities provided by the environment, and social opportunity are all valid components.

For example, to improve the opportunity to begin performing a behavior like regular exercise, free training classes may help.

Motivation Recall that motivation in the context of COM-B refers to the internal processes that influence decision making and behavior. Reflective motivation - the reflective process involved in making plans -and automatic motivation -the automatic processes such as impulses and inhibition - are the two main components.

For example, to improve motivation, it his helpful to turn a desired behavior from something they need to do, to something they want to do, by encouraging reflection of the benefits of performing that behavior. Case study. COM-B behavior model and improving antibiotic usage Antibiotic resistance is a serious threat to global health, and.

Related TDL resources. Stages of Change: How to Motivate and Reinforce Desired Behaviors If you are interested in learning more about changing human behavior, this article outlines the tool of motivation, as well as how behavior change occurs through a series of stages.

A Nudge a Day Keeps the Doctor Away If you are interested in reading more about how behavioral science is applied in the medical world, this article outlines how automaticity in our actions may be responsible for sub-optimal health behaviors.

Barker, F. Applying the COM-B behaviour model and behaviour change wheel to develop an intervention to improve hearing-aid use in adult auditory rehabilitation. International Journal of Audiology , 55 sup3 , SS The BMJ.

Understanding consumer behavior patterns in antibiotic usage for upper respiratory tract infections: A study protocol based on the COM-B framework.

How important is this change for you? What do you think has to change in your life? Behavioral change can be attempted at many levels within communities, groups, and individuals. Measures and assessments provide a means to track the success of change intervention programs and increase the likelihood that the person will perform the behavior Godin et al.

Enhance wellbeing with these free, science-based exercises that draw on the latest insights from positive psychology. While the following cognitive development activities can be performed individually, they are incredibly powerful in group sessions.

Change is not easy. Before we are motivated to make the change, we must first dare to dream how that change may look. These Powerful Change Questions encourage reflection of the bigger picture to help the client consider what they really want. The questions also are helpful inputs to the GROW coaching model modified from Whitmore, Take time to reflect on the questions and your answers.

What do they tell you about what you really want to do next in your life? A group environment lends itself to exploring, identifying, and discussing nudge interventions and their effect on individuals and the community, such as:.

Use the Group Nudge Intervention worksheet in a group setting to explore how nudge techniques can be more successful than attempting to enforce behavioral change. More extensive versions of the following tools are available with a subscription to the Positive Psychology Toolkit© , but they are described briefly below:.

As you identify the habits you wish to track, ask yourself the following questions:. As you repeat each habit, the habit tracker provides immediate feedback and confirmation you are on the right track.

Self-contracts are a valuable way to promote healthy behavioral change. When people commit to a certain behavior, they are adhering to that commitment. Use this contract with individuals and groups who are ready to think about acting on a goal, plan, or decision.

Effective behavioral solutions are crucial in managing chronic physical and mental health problems and the ongoing challenges in society from financial difficulty and criminal behavior. Making changes at a personal or a community level is not easy. As a result, many behavioral theories have arisen in recent decades to understand the influences on the effectiveness of interventions and how to encourage their uptake.

New positive habits can be implemented and existing unhealthy ones disrupted to encourage behavior in line with overall goals. Environmental change can also be incredibly powerful, making positive behavior easier and promoting wellbeing.

Planning and goal setting are valuable tools for increasing motivation and positive feelings regarding the potential to reach wished-for outcomes while tracking progress. As a therapist, it is essential to work with clients to understand what they wish to achieve, whether significant outcomes or smaller habitual, but equally important, behavioral changes, as they encourage a happier, more fulfilling life.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. About the author Jeremy Sutton, Ph. His work always remains true to the science beneath, his real-world background in technology, his role as a husband and parent, and his passion as an ultra-marathoner.

How useful was this article to you? Not useful at all Very useful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Submit Share this article:. Thank you for this well-written summary of theories, models and exercises! I appreciate the work that went into researching and writing this.

One is Intentional Change Theory Boyatzis, , ICT describes how adults learn, change and grow in ways that leads to sustained change vs. fleeting or episodic change. The concept is described in their book, Immunity to Change: How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization.

Thank you again! An excellent, well-written, clear, and practical piece of literature. It is empowering for both the therapist and client. Look forward to implementing the above suggestions and techniques in my life and practice.

Thank you for providing details of these theories in bite sized pieces. This is very much appreciated to get a quick overview of the theory and application.

Great piece of material that could support and help people find a better way of changing their habits and lives. These behaviours can effect you, but the solutions can be life changing. Great advice. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

While many are frivolous, such as [ Humans are complex creatures. We are made up of more than skin and bones. The promotion of body awareness, nonjudgmental mindfulness, and mental and physical wellbeing is the reason behind the growing popularity of mind-body approaches in the Western [ Home Blog Store Team About CCE Reviews Contact Login.

Scientifically reviewed by Melissa Madeson, Ph. com A Take-Home Message References. Download 3 Free Positive Psychology Exercises PDF Enhance wellbeing with these free, science-based exercises that draw on the latest insights from positive psychology.

Download PDF. Download 3 Free Positive Psychology Tools Pack PDF By filling out your name and email address below. Email Address Required. Your Expertise Required Your expertise Therapy Coaching Education Counseling Business Healthcare Other.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. References Clay, R. Coping with challenging clients. Monitor on Psychology , 48 7 , Atomic habits. Random House. DiClemente, C. Changing behavior using the transtheoretical model. Hagger, L.

Cameron, K. Hamilton, N. Lintunen Eds. Cambridge University Press. Epton, T. Goal setting interventions. Forsyth, J. New Harbinger. Godin, G. Which survey questions change behavior? Randomized controlled trial of mere measurement interventions.

Health Psychology , 29 6 , — Hagger, M. The handbook of behavior change. Kremer, J. Pure sport: Practical sport psychology. Marteau, T. Changing behavior by changing environments.

Miller, W. Motivational interviewing: Preparing people for change. Guilford Press. Orbell, S. Changing behavior using habit theory. Pemberton, C. Just by identifying all the potential intervention functions and policy categories this framework could prevent policy makers and intervention designers from neglecting important options.

For example, it has been used in UK parliamentary circles to demonstrate to Members of Parliament that the current UK Government is ignoring important evidence-based interventions to change behaviour in relation to public health [ 43 , 44 ].

By focusing on environmental restructuring, some incentivisation and forms of subtle persuasion to influence behaviour, as advocated by the popular book 'Nudge' [ 45 ], the UK Government eschews the use of coercion, persuasion, or the other BCW intervention functions that one might use.

Although awareness of the full range of interventions and policies is important for intervention design, the BCW goes beyond providing this. It forms the basis for a systematic analysis of how to make the selection of interventions and policies as in Tables 2 and 3.

Having selected the intervention function or functions most likely to be effective in changing a particular target behaviour, these can then be linked to more fine-grained specific behaviour change techniques BCTs.

Any one intervention function is likely to comprise many individual BCTs, and the same BCT may serve different intervention functions. An examination of BCTs used in self-management approaches to increasing physical activity and healthy eating [ 46 ], and in behavioural support for smoking cessation [ 47 , 48 ], shows that these BCTs serve five of the intervention functions: education, persuasion, incentivisation, training, and enablement.

The other four intervention functions coercion, restriction, environmental restructuring, and modelling place more emphasis on external influences and less on personal agency. Reliable taxonomies for BCTs within these intervention functions have yet to be developed. One of the strengths of this framework is that it incorporates context very naturally.

There is a general recognition that context is key to the effective design and implementation of interventions, but it remains under-theorised and under-investigated. The 'opportunity' component of the behavioural model is the context, so that behaviour can only be understood in relation to context.

Behaviour in context is thus the starting point of intervention design. The behaviour system also has automatic processing at its heart, broadening the understanding of behaviour beyond the more reflective, systematic cognitive processes that have been the focus of much behavioural research in implementation science and health psychology for example, social cognition models such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour.

An existing framework that has made an important contribution to making intervention design more systematic is 'intervention mapping' [ 16 ].

A key difference between this and the BCW approach is that intervention mapping aims to map behaviour on to its 'theoretical determinants' in order to identify potential levers for change, whereas the BCW approach recognises that the target behaviour can in principle arise from combinations of any of the components of the behaviour system.

It may appear that some components are more important than others because of a lack of variance in including absence or universal presence of the variables concerned in the population under study.

This can be illustrated by a study of GP advice to smokers, which found that a single variable -- degree of concern that it would harm the doctor-patient relationship -- accounted for significant variance in the rate of advice-giving [ 49 ].

The BCW would analyse the target behaviour in context and note that, regardless of what covariation might currently exist, the target behaviour consists of an activity in which capability is not at issue, and the reflective motivation is broadly positive.

The problem arises because automatic motivational factors are currently working against the behaviour e. Moreover, the physical opportunity is limited lack of time and the social opportunities are also somewhat limited. It would then consider the full range of ways in which the frequency of advice-giving could be increased.

Because the target behaviour is part of a 'system,' a single intervention may have consequences for other parts of the system - these might work against sustainable change or in favour of it.

Thus, the BCW approach is based on a comprehensive causal analysis of behaviour and starts with the question: 'What conditions internal to individuals and in their social and physical environment need to be in place for a specified behavioural target to be achieved? The BCW is being developed into a theory- and evidence-based tool allowing a range of users to design and select interventions and policies according to an analysis of the nature of the behaviour, the mechanisms that need to be changed in order to bring about behaviour change, and the interventions and policies required to change those mechanisms.

An ongoing programme of research is developing an 'intervention design tool' based on the BCW. It starts with a theoretical understanding of behaviour to determine what needs to change in order for the behavioural target to be achieved, and what intervention functions are likely to be effective to bring about that change.

It is being field tested by a range of staff involved in policy and intervention work applying the framework to develop prototype strategies for specific implementation targets. Data are being collected about ease of use and the potential of the BCW to generate new insights.

There are a number of limitations to the research described in this paper. Second, judgement is inevitably involved in conceptualising intervention functions and policy categories.

There are many different ways of doing this, and no guarantees that the one arrived at here is optimal. Indeed, different frameworks may be more or less useful in different circumstances.

Third, even though the proposed framework appears to be comprehensive and can be used reliably to characterise interventions, it is possible that it may prove difficult to use.

However, the systematic way in which development of the BCW has been approached should enable it to provide a more robust starting point for development of improved frameworks than has hitherto been possible. Grimshaw JM, Shirran L, Thomas R, Mowatt G, Fraser C, Bero L: Changing provider behavior: an overview of systematic reviews of interventions.

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Patient education and counseling. Download references. Marie Johnston, University of Aberdeen and Jamie Brown, University College London, provided astute and helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.

Also thanks to Marie Johnston, Queen of acronyms, for COM-B. We thank Dorien Pieters, Maastricht University, for her work in coding frameworks into categories to provide a reliability check for data extraction.

Cancer Research UK provided financial support for RW. Matthew West of Vasco Graphics created the artwork. Research Dept of Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology, University College London, Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7HB, UK. VU University Medical Center, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Van der Boechorststraat 7, BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Health Behaviour Research Centre, University College London Epidemiology and Public Health, London, UK. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Susan Michie. SM and RW conceived the study, designed the measures, supervised the systematic review, supervised the analyses and drafted the write-up.

MMvS undertook the systematic review, performed the coding and commented on the write-up. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Additional File 1: Applying the Behaviour Change Wheel to characterise intervention strategies: Coding Materials. Behaviour Change Wheel Coding materials PDF 6 KB.

Additional File 5: Sources of definitions of interventions and policies. Sources of definitions of interventions and policies PDF 10 KB. Additional file 6: How existing frameworks map on to intervention and policy categories.

How existing frameworks map on to intervention and policy categories PDF 27 KB. Additional file 7: Frameworks analysed by criteria of comprehensive coverage, coherence and link to a model of behaviour.

Analysis by criteria of comprehensive coverage, coherence and link to a model of behaviour PDF 14 KB. Additional file 8: BCW classification of the English Tobacco Control Strategy and the NICE Obesity Guidelines BCW classification of the English Tobacco Control Strategy and the NICE Obesity Guidelines PDF 32 KB.

This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. Reprints and permissions. Michie, S. The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation Sci 6 , 42 Download citation.

Received : 04 January Accepted : 23 April Published : 23 April Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:. Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Skip to main content. Search all BMC articles Search. Download PDF. Download ePub. Abstract Background Improving the design and implementation of evidence-based practice depends on successful behaviour change interventions.

Methods A systematic search of electronic databases and consultation with behaviour change experts were used to identify frameworks of behaviour change interventions. Results Nineteen frameworks were identified covering nine intervention functions and seven policy categories that could enable those interventions.

Conclusions Interventions and policies to change behaviour can be usefully characterised by means of a BCW comprising: a 'behaviour system' at the hub, encircled by intervention functions and then by policy categories. Background Improving the implementation of evidence-based practice and public health depends on behaviour change.

Methods Prior to reviewing the literature on intervention frameworks, we needed to establish a set of criteria for evaluating their usefulness. Establishing criteria of usefulness From the analysis set out in the Introduction, we established three criteria of usefulness: 1. Coherence, i. Links to an overarching model of behaviour.

Figure 1. The COM-B system - a framework for understanding behaviour. Full size image. Results Systematic literature review of existing frameworks From the systematic literature search, 1, articles were identified from the electronic databases, eight of which met our inclusion criteria.

Table 1 Definitions of interventions and policies Full size table. Figure 2. The Behaviour Change Wheel. Table 2 Links between the components of the 'COM-B' model of behaviour and the intervention functions Full size table. Table 3 Links between policy categories and intervention functions Full size table.

Discussion Within 19 frameworks for classifying behaviour change interventions, nine intervention functions and seven policy categories could be discerned. References Grimshaw JM, Shirran L, Thomas R, Mowatt G, Fraser C, Bero L: Changing provider behavior: an overview of systematic reviews of interventions.

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