Behavioural science is focussed on the understanding of behaviours and specifically what influences them. It draws across a wide range of disciplines, including (but not limited to) sociology, psychology, anthropology and economics.
This is not a new field of study, but has been studied for decades and therefore has a wide range of models, theories, and techniques to use within research and practice. Applying these behaviour change models, theories and techniques can result in more effective behaviour change interventions. Using the science, we can understand why people act in a certain way in a specific context, which we can use to help us to understand what techniques and components of interventions will most likely lead to change and be most effective at changing behaviours.
As almost all of public health work is rooted in changing behaviours, whether that is changing behaviours of the public or professionals, applying behavioural science can contribute to your work to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and wider populations. Using behavioural science can help us all build focussed and tailored behaviour change interventions and services to benefit individuals and society, which can have positive individual and population health gains. So why wouldn’t you use it? Programmes such as cancer screening, vaccinations, physical activity, obesity, and antimicrobial prescribing have all seen significant positive outcomes after utilising behavioural science to inform their work.
Behavioural science has taught us that knowledge does not equate to changing behaviours; simply raising awareness, providing information, or telling someone what to do has low success. Thereby, taking a behavioural science approach to identify what is influencing behaviours can allow a more targeted campaign, intervention, or policy to be developed. Grounding our work in behavioural insights is the key to success.
Specifically, it helps us to focus on the precise behaviour to change, the target population(s), explore barriers and facilitators to acting, and to select appropriate and effective techniques to use to change behaviours. These key and simple steps are detailed in the PHW Behavioural Science Guide and is an easy way for you to start applying behavioural science to your work. Colleagues across public health have started using this guide to help inform the wide variety of work they are doing.
Behavioural science is an effective approach that can be incorporated into your work already being conducted. It is there to compliment and add value to the work being produced with the aim of developing behaviourally-informed interventions to result in more effective outcomes for our populations.
