BMJ  2007;335:961 (10 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39391.460382.4E

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Strategies to change behaviour should involve targeted groups

Susan Mayor

London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Strategies designed to change behaviour that can affect health should be developed in association with the target groups and should take their circumstances into account, advises guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

Although social circumstances might be difficult to change, individual and collective behaviour may be easier to modify and offer enormous potential to alter current patterns of disease, it says.

But the many attempts to do this have failed or only partially succeeded. And the guidance argues that this is often because they fail to take account of the theories and principles of successful planning, delivery, and evaluation. "At present there is no strategic approach to behaviour change across government, the NHS or other sectors, and many different methods are being used in an uncoordinated way," it warns.

The guidance recommends developing strategies in partnership with individuals, communities, organisations, and populations. "Plans should be . . . [Full text of this article]


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