Using behaviour change principles in the development and adoption of health policies

Abstract

Abstract Issue/problem We now live in world of ever-increasing amounts of evidence and information. Unfortunately, high quality evidence is not always incorporated into policy documents and can be ignored by policy makers when making decisions. Description of the problem Canada recently released its Healthy Eating Strategy, a comprehensive policy which covers a number of aspects, including Canada’s new Food Guide. The Food Guide is rooted in both nutritional and behavioural evidence. It is unique in the fact that it has taken a behaviour-oriented perspective, rather than a macro and micronutrient path. In addition, to incorporating a behavioural perspective into the policy there is a concerted effort to leverage basic behaviour change principles to get the healthcare community to increase their uptake and usage of the food guide. Furthermore, the same principles are being leveraged to ensure that policy makers and members of the government continually reinvest and push the food guide forward as new evidence is generated. Results Though the Healthy Eating Strategy is still relatively new, there has been substantial policy movement on a number of the areas it will tackle. For the Food Guide, this was only released at the start of 2019, so its uptake and impact is not currently measurable. However, there is a monitoring plan which will evaluate these aspects. That being said, there is some evidence that the Food Guide, and the messaging around it, has been well received. Lessons Taking a behaviour change perspective in the development and delivery of policy, especially health policy, has the potential to positively engage more stakeholders in the process. Ultimately, more evidence is needed to define the optimal way to do this.