Behavior change method

Article summary

Behavior change methods, or behavior change techniques, are theory-based methods for changing one or several determinants of behavior such as a person's attitude or self-efficacy. Such behavior change methods are used in behavior change interventions. Although of course attempts to influence people's attitude and other psychological determinants were much older, especially the definition developed in the late nineties yielded useful insights, in particular four important benefits: # It developed a generic, abstract vocabulary that facilitated discussion of the active ingredients of an intervention # It emphasized the distinction between behavior change methods and practical applications of these methods # It included the concept of 'parameters for effectiveness', important conditions for effectiveness often neglected # It drew attention to the fact that behavior change methods influence specific determinants (when developing an intervention, one first has to identify the relevant determinant, and then, identify matching behavior change methods, see also the steps in intervention mapping). Traditionally, reports of evaluations of behavior change interventions barely described the actual intervention, making it very difficult to identify the most effective methods.…

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