#LetsUnlitterUK: A demonstration and evaluation of the Behavior Change Wheel methodology

Abstract

The Behavior Change Wheel is the most comprehensive and practically useful methodology available for developing behavior change interventions. The current article demonstrates how it can be applied to optimize pro-environmental behaviors and, in so doing, give interventionists access to a rigorous set of theories and techniques for systematically developing pro-environmental interventions. Section 1 describes the development of an intervention to increase people’s intentions to post anti-littering messages on social media. Study 2 describes the development and evaluation of an intervention to increase people’s actual anti-littering posts. Both evaluations are randomized controlled trials that compare the effectiveness of the developed intervention with interventions less informed by the Wheel. We found interventions completely informed by the Wheel to be more effective than interventions less (or not at all) informed by the Wheel. The discussion explores how the Behavior Change Wheel methodology can be used to design future pro-environment interventions.

Barriers and enablers to local active travel during COVID-19: A case study of Streetspace interventions in two London boroughs

“…The TDF is an integrative, theory-based framework of behaviour change constructs, representing a more granular version of the COM-B model that can be used to systematically identify behavioural influences ( Cane et al ., 2012 ). COM-B and TDF have been widely applied to inform interview guides and surveys in the health and sustainability domain ( Burton et al ., 2021 ; Kolodko et al ., 2021 ; Ojo et al ., 2019 ; Zhang & Hale, 2022 ). The interview guide was pilot tested with two research assistants from UCL and updated in line with their feedback, before being used with study participants.…”

“…One of the most simple, yet comprehensive and widely-used models is the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behaviour (COM-B) model ( Michie et al ., 2011 ) which proposes that these three conditions are necessary for any behaviour to occur and can be further sub-divided as shown in Figure 1 ( West & Michie, 2020 ). The COM-B model has been applied to understanding health and transport behaviour during the pandemic ( Burton et al ., 2021 ; Corker et al ., 2021 ) as well as environmentally significant behaviours ( Addo et al ., 2018 ; Allison et al ., 2021 ; Graça et al ., 2019 ; Hale et al ., 2022a ; Kolodko et al ., 2021 ). An advantage of using this model is that it forms the basis of the wider Behaviour Change Wheel framework and toolkit for designing and evaluating interventions ( Michie et al ., 2011 ; Michie et al ., 2014 ; West et al ., 2019 ).…”

People, plastic, and behaviour change – a comment on drivers of plastic pollution, barriers to change and targeted behaviour change interventions

“…There are more papers published that have included behaviour change principles in the context of environmental awareness and pollution ( e.g. Barker et al ’s discussion on consumer behaviour change for food waste prevention, 13 Kolodko et al ‘s assessment of the BCW method to modify UK littering behaviour, 14 or Lasrado and Zakarina's examination of BCW organisational factors that influence environmental attitudes and self-initiated green behaviour 15 ) than directly focus on plastic pollution, and although there will be relevant discussion to plastic-related behaviours within these topics, for the purposes of this initial review, only papers specifically associated with plastic and plastic waste have been included in the plastic pollution publication counts. The general litter and pollution based behaviour change research can provide useful lessons and insight into the potential success of implementing the BCW, COM-B and TPB models to the plastic pollution problem.…”

Applying the behaviour change wheel to assess the theoretical underpinning of a novel smartphone application to increase physical activity in adults with spinal cord injuries

“…Step 5: intervention functions Based on the findings from the COM-B analysis in step 4, step 5 involved using the BCW to identify the most relevant intervention functions for each of the candidate behaviours (84,85). To identify which of these intervention functions were most appropriate, the research team used the affordability, practicability, effectiveness, acceptability, sideeffects or safety, and equity (APEASE) criteria.…”