Behavioral Science Theory Research Articles

Effects of an mHealth Intervention for Pulmonary Tuberculosis Self-management Based on the Integrated Theory of Health Behavior Change: Randomized Controlled Trial

BackgroundImproving the health self-management level of patients with tuberculosis (TB) is significant for reducing drug resistance, improving the cure rate, and controlling the prevalence of TB. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions based on behavioral science theories may be promising to achieve this goal.ObjectiveThis study aims to explore and conduct an mHealth intervention based on the Integrated Theory of Health Behavior Change (ITHBC) in patients with pulmonary TB to increase their ability of self-care management.MethodsA prospective randomized controlled study was conducted from May to November 2020. A total of 114 patients who were admitted consecutively to the TB clinic of Harbin Chest Hospital, China from May 2020 to August 2020 were recruited by convenience sampling. Patients were divided into the control group and intervention group, and all received a 3-month intervention. Patients in the intervention group and the control group received routine medical and nursing care in the TB clinic, including the supervision of their medications. In addition, pharmacist-assisted mHealth (WeChat) intervention based on the ITHBC theory about TB management was provided to the intervention group. The primary outcome was self-management behavior, while the secondary outcomes were TB awareness, self-efficacy, social support, and degree of satisfaction with health education. The outcomes were measured using web-based self-designed and standard questionnaires administered at baseline and at the end point of the study. Intergroup data were assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test, whereas intragroup data were assessed with the Wilcoxon test (for paired samples).ResultsA total of 112 patients (59 in intervention group and 53 in control group) completed the study. After the intervention, a statistically significant increase was noted in the scores of each item of self-care management behaviors compared with the scores at the baseline (P<.001) in the intervention group. The scores of all self-care management behaviors of the control group were lower than those of all self-care management behaviors in the intervention group (all P<.05), except for the item “cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing” (P=.23) and item “wash hands properly” (P=.60), which had no statistically significant difference from those in the intervention group. Compared with those at baseline, TB knowledge awareness, self-efficacy, social support, and degree of satisfaction with health education in the intervention group increased significantly (P<.001), and the intervention group had significantly higher scores than the control group (P<.001).ConclusionsmHealth intervention for TB self-management based on ITHBC could deepen the understanding of patients with TB about their disease and improve their objective initiative and self-care management behaviors, which were beneficial for promoting compliance behavior and quality of prevention and control for pulmonary TB.Trial RegistrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2200055557; https://tinyurl.com/4ray3xnw

A review of principles of management's history and contemporary perspective in brief

Management is a crucial phenomenon in the modern business age. Management is an important instrument for the managers. Though, managers used to apply emerging theories and principles to be wonderful success beyond the enhancing organization’s productivity and gaining more profit. Since ancient period, accompanying with human civilization. Million scholars are thinking, studying and experimenting for effective principles of management till now and still they have been continuing it.&#x0D; Furthermore, this study reviews that the history of management, evolution of management thought, trends of scholars contributions in different time period from the antiquity.&#x0D; In the 18th century, during the industrial revolution has been changed tremendously in management perspectives. Management scholars, experts have had developed some classical theory, human relation theory, Human behavior science theory, management science theory, system theory, and contingency theory. Scientists, mathematicians, economists, sociologists, psychologists are still research experimenting and inventing contemporary management theories of management.&#x0D; This is the scientific era, world is influencing with dynamic environment. The technology, economic, social, culture, political, legal etc. are changing continuously. Thus, a manage must take crucial challenges in working environment in the organization. Hence, the manager should be consider on changing perspective of management principles. Principles of management provide suitable guidelines for a manager. Moreover, if managers follow strictly principles of management, definitely it supports to enhance efficiency of employees' and increased productivity. An organization’s success and failure depends on effective management. Whether a successful management can drastically change in society and nation through economically and social paradigm.

Analysis of university infrastructure and recognition of reward and punishment system on College Students’ garbage classification behavior – a case study of Wuhan University of Technology

Only a few college students can realize the garbage classification under the background that the garbage classification policy has already been issued. In order to explore the factors that influence garbage classification behavior, this paper puts forward five hypotheses based on Behavioral Science Theory, and explores the influence of internal and external factors on garbage classification behavior of Wuhan University of Technology Students. It provides a reference for improving college students’ consciousness of energy conservation and environmental protection and implementing college garbage classification.

Turning the tide in HIV through health communication research.

Turning the tide in HIV through health communication research.

584-P: Who’s the Boss of Me? Autonomous vs. Controlled Motivation among Young Adults with T1D

Introduction: Young adults (YAs) with T1D experience poorer self-care, psychosocial well-being and clinical outcomes relative to other age groups. A better understanding of factors that drive these challenges is needed to better support this age group. Behavioral science theory suggests that greater autonomous (vs. controlled) motivation (the degree to which behaviors are motivated by internal vs. external drivers) may enable YA to more effectively navigate the challenges of living with T1D. Methods: Baseline surveys and clinical data from an ongoing self-management RCT were analyzed to examine associations between autonomous motivation (modified TSRQ) , glycemic control (HbA1c) , diabetes distress (DDS) , diabetes self-management (DSMQ) , self-efficacy (DES-SF) , and quality of life (ADD-QoL) . All analyses were adjusted for treatment regimen (injections/pump/CGM) . Results: Among 133 YA with T1D (24.2±3.7 yrs, 53% female, 53% Latinx, 36% White, 11% multiethnic/other) , more autonomous motivation was associated with lower diabetes distress (standardized b= -0.19, p=0.04) and better self-management (b=0.18, p=0.04) . Analyses revealed that the association of autonomous motivation with lower diabetes distress scores was attributable to its associations with the emotional burden (b=-0.17, p=0.05) and regimen distress (b=-0.24, p=0.01) subscales, and its association with higher self management scores was driven by its association with the glucose monitoring subscale (b=0.32, p=0.0005) . Relationships between motivation and other measures were not significant. Conclusion: Among YA with T1D, those with greater autonomous motivation for diabetes care had lower regimen distress and emotional burden, and greater glucose monitoring. While the causal direction of these relationships is unclear, it is plausible that interventions to enhance autonomous motivation may enhance self-management and well-being in this population. Disclosure E.Pyatak: Research Support; Abbott Diabetes. E.Taylor: None. J.Raymond: None. C.Vigen: n/a. J.Sideris: None. D.Fox: None. J.Diaz: None. A.Ali: None. J.Blanchard: None. G.Granados: None. E.Salazar: None. Funding National Institutes of Health (R01DK116719)

Development of templates to enable countries to apply behavioural science in using global survey data to inform their COVID-19 policies

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vital importance and impact of human behaviour on viral transmission. During 2020, large amounts of global survey data were collected and made freely available to help the response. Many teams responding to the pandemic lack capacity to interpret and apply behavioural data. A collaboration of the World Health Organization’s Behavioural Insights team and UCL’s Centre for Behaviour Change designed and piloted two templates to enable survey data use during the first months of the pandemic. The first template documents key behaviours, thoughts and emotions related to the pandemic, with social interactions and population adherence to behavioural guidelines. The second template enables countries to formulate questions or issues that they would like behavioural data to address. This collaborative process applying behavioural science theory produced structured templates to enable the organisation, interpretation, sharing and application of survey data to inform policy and practice in different country contexts.

The Behavior Change Design Cards: A Design Support Tool for Theoretically-Grounded Design of Behavior Change Technologies

ABSTRACT Despite a wealth of behavior change theories and techniques available, designers often struggle to apply theory in the design of behavior change technologies. We present the Behavior Change Design (BCD) cards, a design support tool that makes behavioral science theory accessible to interaction designers during design meetings. Grounded on two theoretical frameworks of behavior change, the BCD cards attempt to map 34 behavior change techniques to five stages of behavior change, thus assisting designers in selecting appropriate techniques for given behavioral objectives. We present the design of the BCD cards along with the results of two formative and one summative study that aimed at informing the design of the cards and assessing their impact on the design process.

Nudging and Muddling through

AbstractDespite its grounding in prestigious theories of behavioral science, the findings of both academic and applied behavioral public administration (BPA) have tended to present a rather mixed picture of often contradictory results that appear highly context dependent. And more developed theory and better methods may not do much to remedy the situation. Rather, we should perhaps begin to view BPA through the lens of Charles Lindblom’s notion of a science of muddling through. That is, BPA should perhaps be seen not so much as a theory-driven attempt to uncover universal regularities of human thought and behavior, but rather as a method of incremental, limited adjustments—tested by successive randomized controlled trials (RCTs)—that form part of an evolutionary process of trial-and-error aimed at solving applied problems in localized settings. Implications for academic and applied BPA are discussed.

Optimizing Healthcare Through Digital Health and Wellness Solutions to Meet the Needs of Patients With Chronic Disease During the COVID-19 Era.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated longstanding inefficiencies and deficiencies in chronic disease management and treatment in the United States, such as a fragmented healthcare experience and system, narrowly focused services, limited resources beyond office visits, expensive yet low quality care, and poor access to comprehensive prevention and non-pharmacological resources. It is feared that the addition of COVID-19 survivors to the pool of chronic disease patients will burden an already precarious healthcare system struggling to meet the needs of chronic disease patients. Digital health and telemedicine solutions, which exploded during the pandemic, may address many inefficiencies and deficiencies in chronic disease management, such as increasing access to care. However, these solutions are not panaceas as they are replete with several limitations, such as low uptake, poor engagement, and low long-term use. To fully optimize digital health and telemedicine solutions, we argue for the gamification of digital health and telemedicine solutions through a pantheoretical framework—one that uses personalized, contextualized, and behavioral science algorithms, data, evidence, and theories to ground treatments.

RunIn3: the development process of a running-related injury prevention programme

BackgroundRunning is an important type of exercise to keep people physically active. However, running also carries a risk of developing running-related injuries (RRI). Therefore, effective and evidence-based RRI prevention programmes...

Theory utilization in current communication of cancer genetic testing research: Identified gaps and opportunities

BackgroundEffective communication of cancer-related genetic and genomic testing (CGT) with patients and the public is paramount to transforming and managing cancer prevention, detection, and care. Behavioral and social science theories could improve communication effectiveness and, in turn, health outcomes. MethodsIn this study, we characterized the use of theory in recent research on communication about CGT from 2010 to 2017. ResultsOf 513 empirical papers focusing on communication about CGT, only 119 (23%) utilized any theory in the study design. Behavior change and health psychology/cognitive representation theories (24.2% and 21.9%, respectively) were the most commonly used with minimal use of communication theories (3%). Theories were primarily used to guide hypotheses or research question development (73.9%), and for selecting measures or codes (68.9%). Approximately half of the papers (48.3%) related their study findings to the referenced theory. Fewer papers (14.3%) discussed implications of the findings for the theory. ConclusionsWhile theories are being utilized to inform study design, few discuss their results in the context of theoretical implications and thus decrease potential generalizability. Greater use of theory could help scholars to identify and develop theories suited to this clinical context and inform our understanding of related communication processes more broadly.

Institutional and behaviour-change interventions to support COVID-19 public health measures: a review by the Lancet Commission Task Force on public health measures to suppress the pandemic.

The Lancet COVID-19 Commission Task Force for Public Health Measures to Suppress the Pandemic was launched to identify critical points for consideration by governments on public health interventions to control coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Drawing on our review of published studies of data analytics and modelling, evidence synthesis and contextualisation, and behavioural science evidence and theory on public health interventions from a range of sources, we outline evidence for a range of institutional measures and behaviour-change measures. We cite examples of measures adopted by a range of countries, but especially jurisdictions that have, thus far, achieved low numbers of COVID-19 deaths and limited community transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Finally, we highlight gaps in knowledge where research should be undertaken. As countries consider long-term measures, there is an opportunity to learn, improve the response and prepare for future pandemics.

Next-Generation Solutions to Address Adaptive Challenges in Dietetics Practice: The I+PSE Conceptual Framework for Action.

Next-Generation Solutions to Address Adaptive Challenges in Dietetics Practice: The I+PSE Conceptual Framework for Action.

Into Hyperspace: A Critique of Hypernudge

The term “hypernudge” has been offered by legal scholar Karen Yeung (2017) as a name for a growing phenomenon which sits at the intersection of behavioural science and computer science. Hypernudges are frequently described as personalised nudges, Big Data nudges, or data-driven nudges. Yet, at present, the concept of hypernudging has not robustly been integrated into the taxonomy of nudging described by nudge theory and behavioural science at-large. In this paper, I offer a critique of the hypernudging concept from a behavioural science and nudge theory perspective. The primary intention of this critique is to situate hypernudge as a distinct category within the existing nudge theory taxonomy, as well as to relate several ideas given by Yeung (2017) and associated authors to contemporary nudge theory. In doing so, I argue hypernudges produce, or at the very least magnify, three burdens which a decision-maker must overcome: the burden of avoidance, the burden of understanding, and the burden of experimentation. The burden of avoidance captures the costs facing a decision-maker who does not want to follow the hypernudge. The burden of understanding captures the costs facing a decision-maker who wishes to understand the dynamics of a hypernudge. Finally, the burden of experimentation captures the costs facing a decision-maker when merely interacting with a hypernudge, given the technical dynamics of the hypernudge. I argue that these three burdens can be understood through two concepts derived from nudge theory. The first of these concepts I call the assumption of error, whereby all decisions are assumed to be subject to some error which might be reduced through more nudging and more personalised nudging. The second of these concepts I call behavioural logic, which describes a system of logic – emergent from the assumption of error – which justifies various hypernudging practices. While I do not argue that either the assumption of error or behavioural logic are correct, I argue that insofar as a choice architect may believe them to be correct, they serve as a robust rationale for understanding the nature of hypernudges.

Research on incentive mechanism of scientific and technological talents in high-tech industry

In the era of intelligent economy, scientific and technological talents have become the key objects of staff incentives in high-tech industries, but the actual effect of scientific and technological talents incentive is not optimistic, mainly manifested in the generally low incentive satisfaction of scientific and technological talents. The main reason for the above problems is that the incentive mechanism of scientific and technological talents in high-tech industry is not reasonable. In view of the problems existing in the incentive mechanism of scientific and technological talents, a new incentive mechanism of scientific and technological talents is constructed by integrating the ideas and methods of human capital theory, behavioral science and incentive theory. Combining the value-added of financial capital of high-tech enterprises with the ability, contribution, behavior and effort of scientific and technological talents, we can fundamentally stimulate the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of scientific and technological talents.

Using behavioral science theory to enhance public health nursing.

The application of behavioral science theory is instrumental in advancing nursing research and practice. Nurses can benefit from a thorough understanding of theoretical perspectives related to health behavior change. Behavioral science theory can provide a conceptual context for understanding patient behavior, it can guide research on the determinants of health behavior and health service delivery, and it can offer alternative approaches to nursing practice that may improve the effectiveness of patient care. The aim of this paper is to provide some examples of behavioral theories that can be used in nursing research and practice, and provide an example of how one theory, Stages of Change (Transtheoretical Model), can be applied to older adult fall prevention. Given the critical role behavior plays in premature morbidity and mortality, public health nurses and researchers can benefit by broadening the use of theory in the design and implementation of interventions, using behavioral theory as their guide.

The influence of message framing on public beliefs and behaviors related to species reintroduction

Little is known about whether messaging strategies drawing from behavioral science theory may effectively change public attitudes, beliefs, and behavior with regard to biodiversity conservation. We conducted a randomized survey experiment with 1415 Colorado residents to examine how messaging approaches influence beliefs, voting intentions, and collective action intentions related to a proposed ballot initiative mandating wolf reintroduction to the state. We tested 6 different messages that drew from behavioral science literature on extreme versus moderate appeals, anthropomorphism, and perceived social norms. We find that overall, message framing has little impact on Coloradans’ intentions to vote for or against wolf reintroduction. We find preliminary evidence that extreme arguments that do not address ranchers’ concerns may decrease the willingness of individuals with neutral attitudes to share positive information about wolf reintroduction with others. Furthermore, moderate arguments discussing how ranchers’ concerns will be addressed reduce intentions to engage in organized opposition to reintroduction (compared to arguments used by those opposed to wolf reintroduction). We find that providing descriptive normative information changes perceptions of norms regarding wolf reintroduction, but such changed perceptions do not lead to changes in behavioral intentions compared to control messages. Our study suggests that to increase the diffusion of positive information about a conservation program and prevent organized opposition, conservation practitioners should avoid extreme arguments that ignore the concerns of the opposition and utilize more moderate arguments that acknowledge and address those concerns.

Highlighting Contributions of Behavioral and Social Sciences in Advancing Public Health: Where We've Come, Where We're Headed.

Social and behavioral sciences, a cross-disciplinary field that examines the interaction among behavioral, biological, environmental, and social factors, has contributed immensely to some public health achievements over the last century. Through collaboration with community organizations and partners, social and behavioral scientists have conducted numerous program interventions involving community engagement and advocacy efforts at the local, state, federal, and international levels. This article traces select historical underpinnings of the applications of social and behavioral sciences theories and evidence to public health and highlights 4 areas in which health education specialists have distinctly contributed to public health achievements by building on theory and evidence. Applied social and behavioral sciences have formed the basis of various health education interventions. These 4 areas include the following: (1) Theory, Model Development, and the Professionalization of Health Education; (2) Participation and Community Engagement; (3) Health Communication; and (4) Advocacy and Policy. We present contemporary challenges and recommendations for strengthening the theory, research, and practice of health education within the context of social and behavioral sciences in addressing emerging public health issues.

The Vaccine Uptake Continuum: Applying Social Science Theory to Shift Vaccine Hesitancy.

Vaccines are the optimal public health strategy to prevent disease, but the growing anti-vaccine movement has focused renewed attention on the need to persuade people to increase vaccine uptake. This commentary draws on social and behavioral science theory and proposes a vaccine uptake continuum comprised of five factors: (1) awareness of the health threat; (2) availability of the vaccine; (3) accessibility of the vaccine; (4) affordability of the vaccine; and (5) acceptability of the vaccine to effectively approach this rising challenge.

Using Behavioral Theory to Enhance Occupational Safety and Health: Applications to Health Care Workers.

Work-related morbidity and mortality are persistent public health problems across all US industrial sectors, including health care. People employed in health care and social services are at high risk for experiencing injuries and illnesses related to their work. Social and behavioral science theories can be useful tools for designing interventions to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses and can provide a roadmap for investigating the multilevel factors that may hinder or promote worker safety and health. Specifically, individual-level behavioral change theories can be useful in evaluating the proximal, person-related antecedents (such as perceived behavioral control) that influence work safety outcomes. This article (1) provides a brief overview of widely used, individual-level behavior change theories and examples of their application to occupational safety and health (OSH)-related interventions that involve the health care community; (2) introduces an integrated theory of behavior change and its application to promoting the OSH of health care workers; and (3) discusses opportunities for application of individual-level behavior change theory to OSH research and practice activities involving health care workers. The use of behavioral science to consider the role of individual behaviors in promoting health and preventing disease and injury provides a necessary complement to structural approaches to protecting workers in the health care industry.