Page - 146 - in Applied Interdisciplinary Theory in Health Informatics - Knowledge Base for Practitioners

Health Behaviour Theory in Health Stephanie MEDLOCKa,1 and Jeremy C. WYATT b a Department of Medical Informatics, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, University of Amsterdam, NL b Wessex Institute of Health Research, University of Southampton, UK Abstract. The rising use of the Internet and information technology has made computerized interventions an attractive channel for providing advice and support for behaviour change. Health behaviour and behaviour change theories are a family of theories which aim to explain the mechanisms by which human behaviours change and use that knowledge to promote change. Among the best-known of these theories are the Social Learning and Social Cognitive theories, the Health Belief Model, the Theory of Reasoned Action and its successors the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Reasoned Action Approach, and the Transtheoretical model. We discuss three examples of how behaviour change theories have been applied in computer-based interventions: a system to aid users to quit smoking, a decision aid for choice of breast cancer therapy, and an internet-based exercise program for reducing cardiovascular risk. We also discuss misapplication of theory, and reflect on how these theories can best be used. Behaviour change theory can be applied in health informatics interventions in several ways; for example, to select participants for a particular intervention, to shape the content of the intervention to effectively influence behaviour, or to tailor content to individual needs. Application of these theories to provide personalized advice ("decision support") is a young but promising area of research, and could inform other decision support interventions, including those that provide support for clinicians. Keywords. Health behavior; Health psychology; Behaviour change theory; Theory- based design; Decision support systems, clinical Learning objectives After reading this chapter, the reader will be able to: 1. List some health behaviour and behaviour change theories and understand their relevance to system design and participant selection. 2. Understand the association of these models with technology adoption models and organizational change models. 3. Understand how these models relate to behaviour change techniques, and have been applied in technology-based interventions for smoking, breast cancer, and exercise to reduce cardiovascular risk. 4. Apply these models to designing an intervention for changing behaviour. 1 Corresponding Author: S. Medlock, E-mail: s.k.medlock@amc.uva.nl. Informatics: Support for Positive Change Applied Interdisciplinary Theory in Health Informatics P. Scott et al. (Eds.) © 2019 The authors and IOS Press. This article is published online with Open Access by IOS Press and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0). doi:10.3233/SHTI190119 146