Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T19:32:04.693Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

30 - Critical and Qualitative Approaches to Behavior Change

from Part II - Methods and Processes of Behavior Change: Intervention Development, Application, and Translation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2020

By
Kerry Chamberlain  and
Antonia Lyons
Edited by
Martin S. Hagger ,
Linda D. Cameron ,
Kyra Hamilton ,
Nelli Hankonen  and
Taru Lintunen
Martin S. Hagger
Affiliation:
University of California, Merced
Linda D. Cameron
Affiliation:
University of California, Merced
Kyra Hamilton
Affiliation:
Griffith University
Nelli Hankonen
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
Taru Lintunen
Affiliation:
University of Jyväskylä
Get access

Summary

This chapter offers a critical consideration of behavior change scholarship. It introduces the complexity of behavior change and provides a brief overview of major concerns that have been raised regarding behavior change theories and models. It then discusses how critical and qualitative approaches can provide a response to some of these concerns and how qualitative approaches have value for extending practice in this field. The chapter provides arguments for using qualitative research in behavior change research, gives examples of where qualitative approaches have been employed, and outlines social practice theory as a means to address many of the concerns about dominant approaches to behavior change. The chapter also discusses critical perspectives and their value to the field of behavior change research and implementation. In the final sections, the chapter outlines the benefits of researchers and practitioners working interdisciplinarily, advocates the importance of understanding and incorporating qualitative approaches into behavior change research, and highlights the value of taking a broader, more critical perspective on research and practice in this field.

Keywords

critical approachqualitative designsmixed methodshealth economic evaluationsocial practice theoryinductive approachsocial context
Type
Chapter
Information
The Handbook of Behavior Change , pp. 430 - 442
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abraham, C., Kelly, M., West, R., & Michie, S. (2009). The UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence public health guidance on behaviour change: A brief introduction. Psychology, Health and Medicine, 14, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548500802537903Google Scholar
Acunzo, D., Escher, G., Ottersen, O. et al. (2018). Framing planetary health: Arguing for resource-centred science. The Lancet Planetary Health, 2, e101–e102. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(18)30023-8Google Scholar
Blue, S., Shove, E., Carmona, C., & Kelly, M. P. (2016). Theories of practice and public health: Understanding (un)healthy practices. Critical Public Health, 26, 36–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2014.980396CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bouton, M. E. (2014). Why behavior change is difficult to sustain. Preventive Medicine, 68, 29–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.06.010Google Scholar
Bryant, A., & Charmaz, K. (Eds.). (2007). The SAGE Handbook of Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.Google Scholar
Carter, S. M., & Little, M. (2007). Justifying knowledge, justifying method, taking action: Epistemologies, methodologies, and methods in qualitative research. Qualitative Health Research, 17, 1316–1328. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732307306927Google Scholar
Chamberlain, K. (2014). Epistemology and qualitative research. In Rohleder, P. & Lyons, A. (Eds.), Qualitative Research in Clinical and Health Psychology (pp. 9–28). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Chevalier, J., & Buckles, D. (2013). Participatory Action Research: Theory and Methods for Engaged Inquiry. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Christakis, N., & Fowler, J. (2008). The collective dynamics of smoking in a large social network. New England Journal of Medicine, 358, 2249–2258. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa0706154CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clandinin, D. (2013). Engaging in Narrative Inquiry. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Crossley, M. (2000). Rethinking Health Psychology. Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Davis, R., Campbell, R., Hildon, Z., Hobbs, L., & Michie, S. (2015). Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: A scoping review. Health Psychology Review, 9, 323–344. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2014.941722Google Scholar
Dohan, D., Garrett, S. B., Rendle, K. A., Halley, M., & Abramson, C. (2016). The importance of integrating narrative into health care decision making. Health Affairs, 35, 720–725. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.1373Google Scholar
Evans, D., Welch, D., & Swaffield, J. (2017). Constructing and mobilizing the “consumer”: Responsibility, consumption and the politics of sustainability. Environment and Planning A, 49, 1396–1412. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X17694030Google Scholar
French, S., Green, S., O’Connor, D. et al. (2012). Developing theory-informed behavior change interventions to implement evidence into practice: A systematic approach using the Theoretical Domains Framework. Implementation Science, 7, 38. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-7-38Google Scholar
Gergen, K. J. (2019). Qualitative psychology and the new pluralism. In Schiff, B. (Ed.), Situating Qualitative Methods in Psychological Science (pp. 61–71). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gergen, K. J., Josselson, R., & Freeman, M. (2015). The promises of qualitative inquiry. American Psychologist, 70, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038597CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Structuration Theory. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Greenhalgh, T., Annandale, E., Ashcroft, R. et al. (2016). An open letter to The BMJ editors on qualitative research. BMJ, 352, i563. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i563CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagger, M., & Chatzisarantis, N. (2011). Never the twain shall meet? Quantitative psychological researchers’ perspectives on qualitative research. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 3, 266–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2011.607185CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hargreaves, T. (2011). Practice-ing behaviour change: Applying social practice theory to pro-environmental behaviour change. Journal of Consumer Culture, 11, 79–99. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540510390500Google Scholar
Hilton, C. E., & Johnston, L. H. (2017). Health psychology: It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it. Health Psychology Open, 4. https://doi.org/10.1177/2055102917714910Google Scholar
Holman, D., & Borgstrom, E. (2016). Applying social theory to understand health-related behaviours. Medical Humanities, 42(2), 143–145. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2015-010688Google Scholar
Holman, D., Lynch, R., & Reeves, A. (2017). How do health behaviour interventions take account of social context? A literature trend and co-citation analysis. Health, 22, 389–410. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459317695630Google Scholar
Johnston, M., Johnston, D., Wood, C. E., Hardeman, W., Francis, J., & Michie, S. (2018). Communication of behaviour change interventions: Can they be recognised from written descriptions? Psychology and Health, 33, 713–723. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2017.1385784Google Scholar
Kaza, S., Yao, L. C., Bhada-Tata, P., & Van Woerden, F. (2018). What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050. Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/30317Google Scholar
Keane, H., Weier, M., Fraser, D., & Gartner, C. (2017). “Anytime, anywhere”: Vaping as social practice. Critical Public Health, 27, 465–476. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2016.1250867CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, M., & Barker, M. (2016). Why is changing health-related behaviour so difficult? Public Health, 136, 109–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2016.03.030CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kidd, S. (2002). The role of qualitative research in psychological journals. Psychological Methods, 7, 126–138. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.7.1.126CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kippax, S. (2018). A journey to HIV prevention research: From social psychology to social health via multidisciplinarity. Journal of Health Psychology, 23, 442–456. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105317707529Google Scholar
Kippax, S., & Race, K. (2003). Sustaining safe practice: Twenty years on. Social Science and Medicine, 57, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00303-9Google Scholar
Kok, G., Gottlieb, N., Peters, G.-J. et al. (2016). A taxonomy of behaviour change methods: An intervention mapping approach. Health Psychology Review, 10, 297–312. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2015.1077155Google Scholar
Lally, P., Wardle, J., & Gardner, B. (2011). Experiences of habit formation: A qualitative study. Psychology, Health and Medicine, 16, 484–489. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2011.555774Google Scholar
Laurier, E., McKie, L., & Goodwin, N. (2000). Daily and lifecourse contexts of smoking. Sociology of Health and Illness, 22, 289–309. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.00205Google Scholar
Levitt, H. M., Bamberg, M., Creswell, J. W., Frost, D. M., Josselson, R., & Suárez-Orozco, C. (2018). Journal article reporting standards for qualitative primary, qualitative meta-analytic, and mixed methods research in psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board task force report. American Psychologist, 73, 26. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000151Google Scholar
Lyons, A. C. (2011). Advancing and extending qualitative research in health psychology. Health Psychology Review, 5, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2010.544638Google Scholar
Lyons, A. C., & Chamberlain, K. (2017). Critical health psychology. In Gough, B., (Ed.), Palgrave Handbook of Critical Social Psychology (pp. 533–555). London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51018-1_26Google Scholar
Madison, D. S. (2019). Critical Ethnography: Method, Ethics, and Performance. London: SAGE.Google Scholar
Majid, U., & Vanstone, M. (2018). Appraising qualitative research for evidence syntheses: A compendium of quality appraisal tools. Qualitative Health Research, 28, 2115–2131. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732318785358CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malterud, K. (2019). The impact of evidence-based medicine on qualitative metasynthesis: Benefits to be harvested and warnings to be given. Qualitative Health Research, 29, 7–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732318795864Google Scholar
Marini, M. G. (2015). Narrative Medicine: Bridging the Gap Between Evidence-Based Care and Medical Humanities. Cham: Springer International.Google Scholar
Marks, D. F. (2013). Health psychology: Overview. In Nezu, A., Nezu, C., & Geller, P. (Eds.), Handbook of Psychology, Vol. 9: Health Psychology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Meier, P., Warde, A., & Holmes, J. (2018). All drinking is not equal: How a social practice theory lens could enhance public health research on alcohol and other health behaviours. Addiction, 113, 206–213. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13895Google Scholar
Michie, S., Richardson, M., Johnston, M. et al. (2013). The behavior change technique taxonomy (v1) of 93 hierarchically clustered techniques: Building an international consensus for the reporting of behavior change interventions. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 46, 81–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-013-9486-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Michie, S., & Wood, C. (2015). Health behaviour change techniques. In Conner, M. & Norman, P. (Eds.), Predicting and Changing Health Behaviour: Research and Practice With Social Cognition Models (pp. 358–389). New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Mielewczyk, F., & Willig, C. (2007). Old clothes and an older look: The case for a radical makeover in health behaviour research. Theory and Psychology, 17, 811–837. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354307083496Google Scholar
Murray, M., & Chamberlain, K. (2014). Health psychology. In Teo, T. (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 844–850). New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_132Google Scholar
Nair, C. (2018). The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy, and Society. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.Google Scholar
NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence). (2007). Behaviour Change: General Approaches. (Public health guideline [PH6]). London: NICE.Google Scholar
NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence). (2014). Behaviour Change: Individual Approaches. (Public health guideline [PH49]). London: NICE.Google Scholar
Norris, E., Finnerty, A. N., Hastings, J., Stokes, G., & Michie, S. (2018). Identifying and evaluating ontologies related to human behaviour change interventions: A scoping review. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/y7dusCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noyes, J., Booth, A., Cargo, M. et al. (2018). Cochrane Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group guidance series – paper 1: Introduction. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 97, 35–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2017.09.025Google Scholar
Ogden, J. (2016). Celebrating variability and a call to limit systematization: The example of the behaviour change technique taxonomy and the behaviour change wheel. Health Psychology Review, 10, 245–250. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2016.1190291Google Scholar
Penn, L., Moffatt, S. M., & White, M. (2008). Participants’ perspective on maintaining behaviour change: A qualitative study within the European Diabetes Prevention Study. BMC Public Health, 8, 235. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-8-235Google Scholar
Sheeran, P., Klein, W., & Rothman, A. (2017). Health behavior change: Moving from observation to intervention. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 573–600. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044007Google Scholar
Shove, E., Pantzar, M., & Watson, M. (2012). The Dynamics of Social Practice: Everyday Life and How It Changes. London: SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446250655.n1Google Scholar
Shove, E., & Warde, A. (2002). Inconspicuous consumption: The sociology of consumption, lifestyles and the environment. In Dunlap, R., Buttel, F., Dickens, P., & Giswijt, A. (Eds.), Sociological Theory and the Environment: Classical Foundations, Contemporary Insights (pp. 230–250). London: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Sniehotta, F., Presseau, J., & Araujo-Soares, V. (2014). Time to retire the theory of planned behaviour. Health Psychology Review, 8, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2013.869710CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stautz, K., Zupan, Z., Field, M., & Marteau, T. (2018). Does self-control modify the impact of interventions to change alcohol, tobacco, and food consumption? A systematic review. Health Psychology Review, 12, 157–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2017.1421477Google Scholar
Tombor, I., & Michie, S. (2017). Methods of health behavior change. In Braddick, O. (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.125Google Scholar
Twine, R. (2018). Materially constituting a sustainable food transition: The case of vegan eating practice. Sociology, 52, 166–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038517726647Google Scholar
Van Manen, M. (2016). Phenomenology of Practice: Meaning-Giving Methods in Phenomenological Research and Writing. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (Eds.). (2016). Methods of Critical Discourse Studies (3rd ed.). London: SAGE.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×