Behavioural theory

Bringing behaviour change techniques into practice: Making use of available tools

By Marta Moreira Marques, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal

Behaviour change techniques are the building blocks of behavior change interventions. Whether you are trying to help someone increase their physical activity, stop smoking or better adhere to a medication regimen, behavior change techniques are the tools you have at your disposal. Common behavior change techniques include things like goal-setting, self-monitoring, providing information about a behaviour and managing emotions.

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Communication

Effective risk communication is about more than behaviour change: let’s talk about personal risk appraisals

By Victoria Woof and David French, Manchester Centre for Health Psychology, University of Manchester, UK

Traditionally in medicine and health psychology, healthcare professionals have provided patients with their personalised disease risks with the aim of preventing disease. Where risk communication facilitates changes to health behaviour, it can potentially reduce the development of disease and find diseases at treatable stages. For instance communicating the risk of cardiovascular disease to promote the uptake of physical exercise and improved diet to reduce risk. However, there are other possible aims and outcomes to consider when delivering information about disease risk. Further, the goals of healthcare professionals and patients or members of the public may not always be aligned. Several related goals of risk communication have been identified, including facilitating informed choices and producing appropriate affective responses, as well as motivating behaviour change.

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Motivation, Planning, Stress

Staying well at work by job crafting     

by Janne Kaltiainen and Jari Hakanen, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Finland

What parts of my work do I find motivating, engaging and most beneficial for my well-being? What can I do to get more of these things in my work? 

After beginning to feel stressed, slightly bored and “in a rut” at work, a nurse with a long career and strong professional expertise began to ask herself these questions. The answers to these questions led her to begin mentoring some of her younger colleagues, helping her to feel more competent in her work and more connected to her colleagues, and to again find meaning in her day to day routines. This small change to the way she did her job improved her work-related well-being, and importantly, did not harm the overall operation and effectiveness of the hospital. Rather, her colleagues felt better supported through this mentorship and the overall atmosphere at work improved.   (more…)

Public Health, Stakeholders

Building collaboration between behavioural research and practice to improve health

By Katherine Brown, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

The content of this blog post is in part drawn from my experiences working in a split role between a university and a local government public health department, with the opportunity to apply my research, intervention development and evaluation skills in practice.

Whether you’re commissioning, managing, designing or delivering health services, chances are there’s at least one behaviour that you need your service users to change for the service to successfully achieve its targets. This is because, regardless of the disease(s) your service targets, or whether these are communicable (e.g., flu, Covid-19, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections) or non-communicable (e.g., heart disease, COPD, type 2 diabetes, obesity), the way people behave contributes to the overall disease burden. This is not to say people should be blamed for their ill-health and considered to be solely responsible for their own health and wellbeing. Quite the opposite! A person’s health status is also the consequence of genetic, biological, social and environmental determinants. Consideration of these factors is key for health improvement and protection.

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Communication, Implementation

Perdido (e achado) na tradução: Comunicação eficaz com utentes

By Zuzana Dankulincova, Pavol Jozef Safarik University, Slovakia

Apesar de a maioria dos investigadores terem consciência que disseminar os resultados dos seus estudos científicos faz parte das suas responsabilidades éticas para com os participantes em investigação (e de quererem que os seus resultados tenham implicações clara e práticas), esta implementação pode levar algum tempo. O conhecimento científico não é sempre aplicado na prática diária, e mesmo quando o é, não tende a ser feito de forma consistente ou sistemática.

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Self-regulation, Stress

​​Make or break: the importance of breaks in healthcare

By Julia Allan, Aberdeen University, Scotland

Modern life is hectic. We live in an increasingly ‘switched on’ digital world where periods of true respite from work are rare. Many people regularly work for lengthy periods and this is particularly the case for health professionals working in frontline healthcare services. In the healthcare context, working hours and demands are typically high, shifts routinely exceed the 8 hours of a ‘normal’ working day, and work demands can be relentless in nature. If a continuous series of patients require urgent care, health professionals are obligated to provide it, regardless of how busy they have been, or how long they have been working. As a result of these high demands, missed breaks are extremely common in healthcare settings – for example, it is reported that  1 in 10 nurses never take a proper break and 1 in 3 rarely or never take meal breaks during shifts.

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Automaticity, Behavioural theory, E-health, Habit, Motivation

Linking the Elephant to the Rider: The Role of Motivation

By António Labisa Palmeira, CIDEFES – Universidade Lusófona, Portugal; ISBNPA Executive Director

Long-term motivation for health-related behaviors can come from different sources. Behavioral scientists are still trying to work out how these sources fit together. For example, I go running nearly every day and have done so for 30+ years. How and why have I maintained this pattern? Daniel Kahnemann would suggest that dual motivational systems are at play: a system 1 that deals with instincts and emotions, and a system 2 that is deliberative and conscious. He might argue that system 2 prompts me to run because I am aware of the health benefits of exercise. On the other hand, Ed Deci might suggest that I am intrinsically motivated to run and do it because it aligns with my values and self and because I enjoy it.

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E-health, Interventions

A sua intervenção, a sua maneira! Intervenções breves de afirmação

por Katarzyna Cantarero, SWPS University, Polónia

O Bem-estar subjetivo é uma combinação de fatores com os quais nascemos, de situações que surgem nas nossas vidas e (felizmente!) daquilo que fazemos intencionalmente. Muitos investigadores têm investigado o que pode melhorar de forma eficaz o nosso funcionamento psicológico. Intervenções breves de afirmação podem ser uma ferramenta útil para este fim. 

A investigação mostra que pequenas tarefas de escrita (e.g., listas de gratidão ou cartas) podem aumentar o bem-estar psicológico. Num estudo de larga escala realizado através da colaboração de centros de investigação de 87 países, verificou-se que as intervenções simples de reavaliação de situações de forma afirmativa (i.e., mudar como as pessoas se sentem relativamente a uma situação ou colocar o foco nos aspetos positivos de uma situação) levaram a um aumento de emoções positivas durante a pandemia da COVID-19. Avaliar um evento que é potencialmente stressante pode facilitar a retirar benefícios do mesmo. Durante estas tarefas, é pedido aos sujeitos que formem argumentos sobre os aspetos positivos das situações em que se encontram.

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E-health, Mental Health

Levar o aconselhamento para fora do consultório: O potencial das tecnologias móveis

Egon Dejonckheere & Peter Kuppens, KU Leuven, Bélgica.

Muitas formas de aconselhamento e psicoterapia ainda ocorrem predominantemente no consultório. No entanto, quando os clientes deixam o consultório, têm por vezes dificuldade em enfrentar desafios, em aproveitar as oportunidades para melhorar, ou a implementar o que foi conversado na sessão. A evidência mostra que a prática terapêutica pode beneficiar muito com o acesso direto a informações sobre o que ocorre no dia a dia das pessoas. Essas informações podem identificar maneiras de intervir e colmatar a lacuna entre as sessões de aconselhamento e a vida real.

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Assessment, Communication, Coping, Illness representation

Ajudar os pacientes a gerir a sua condição de saúde: A importância das representações de doença

Por Yael Benyamini, Tel Aviv University, Israel e Evangelos C. Karademas, University of Crete, Greece

A Ana e a Maria são duas mulheres saudáveis de 45 anos que vivem numa grande cidade europeia. Ambas conhecem várias pessoas que contraíram COVID-19 e ouvem e leem constantemente sobre o assunto. A Ana acredita que a COVID-19 é uma doença muito séria e, mesmo acreditando que com a sua idade iria recuperar, preocupa-se que se a contrair irá provavelmente sofrer de sintomas desconfortáveis a longo prazo. Ela trabalha de casa o máximo possível, nunca anda na rua sem máscara, e está à espera da próxima dose de vacinação.

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