Links between behaviour change techniques and mechanisms of action: evidence from the published intervention literature

Authors

  • R. Carey
  • M. Johnston
  • A. Rothman
  • M. Kelly
  • M. de Bruin
  • L. Connell
  • S. Michie

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to examine links between behaviour change techniques (BCTs) and mechanisms of action, as explicitly hypothesised in a corpus of published reports of behaviour change interventions. Methods: Data on hypothesised links between BCTs and mechanisms of action were extracted from >300 published intervention reports. The frequency (e.g. number of times a link was reported), explicitness (whether or not coding the link required inference) and precision (whether or not there were multiple links to the same BCT/mechanism of action) of each link was examined. Findings: Approximately 10 links per intervention paper were identified, and there was substantial variation in the level of explicitness afforded to their description, with 30% of papers requiring some inference to code a link. High frequency BCTs and mechanisms of action included Goal Setting (Behaviour) and self-efficacy, respectively. BCTs found to frequently link to self-efficacy included Behavioural Practice/Rehearsal and Instruction on How to Perform the Behaviour. The frequency of each BCT-mechanism of action link as reported in the literature corpus is represented in a heat map. Discussion: There is a need for reports of behaviour change interventions to more explicitly state the full causal sequence hypothesised to underlie intervention effects (i.e. BCT – mechanism of action – behaviour), as well as the rationale behind these hypotheses. The heat map of BCT-mechanism of action links resulting from this study contributes to our understanding of the processes that have been hypothesised to underlie individual behaviour change intervention components within the published literature.

Published

2016-12-31

Issue

Section

Symposia