Elsevier

Public Health

Volume 136, July 2016, Pages 109-116
Public Health

Original Research
Why is changing health-related behaviour so difficult?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2016.03.030Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • We suggest that six common errors made by policy makers prevent the successful implementation of health-related behaviour change.

  • We argue that the extensive body of evidence of how to bring abut behaviour change is consistently ignored.

  • The automatic and reflective systems described in psychology and social practice theory described in sociology are particularly important new areas for developing ideas about behaviour change.

Abstract

Objective

To demonstrate that six common errors made in attempts to change behaviour have prevented the implementation of the scientific evidence base derived from psychology and sociology; to suggest a new approach which incorporates recent developments in the behavioural sciences.

Study design

The role of health behaviours in the origin of the current epidemic of non-communicable disease is observed to have driven attempts to change behaviour. It is noted that most efforts to change health behaviours have had limited success. This paper suggests that in policy-making, discussions about behaviour change are subject to six common errors and that these errors have made the business of health-related behaviour change much more difficult than it needs to be.

Methods

Overview of policy and practice attempts to change health-related behaviour.

Results

The reasons why knowledge and learning about behaviour have made so little progress in alcohol, dietary and physical inactivity-related disease prevention are considered, and an alternative way of thinking about the behaviours involved is suggested. This model harnesses recent developments in the behavioural sciences.

Conclusion

It is important to understand the conditions preceding behaviour psychologically and sociologically and to combine psychological ideas about the automatic and reflective systems with sociological ideas about social practice.

Keywords

Behaviour change
Public health
Psychological theory
Social practice
Non-communicable disease

Cited by (0)