The Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy (v1) of 93 Hierarchically Clustered Techniques: Building an International Consensus for the Reporting of Behavior Change Interventions

Abstract

Background

Quality assessment of a sample of mobile app-based health behavior change interventions using a tool based on the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence behavior change guidance

“…Despite this there was less of a focus on maintenance and relapse prevention. While all but one of the apps used a recognized BCT, none specifically referred to any specific BCT taxonomy [5][6][7][8][9]. Documentation was poor, with only a small number of apps providing adequate descriptions of the theory behind the behavior change techniques employed.…”

“…BCTs allows us to identify and classify the wide range of techniques available and lays the ground work for future systematic reviews to evaluate which of these are most effective [9]. It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss these in detail here, but reviews of the evidence [10] formed the basis of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on approaches to health behavior change [11,12].…”

“…The evidence base used was described for fifteen of the apps and the mechanism of action was described at least in rough terms for over half. In thirty six cases it was clear which BCT had been employed, although no acknowledgement was made of the BCT taxonomy [9]. Sixteen of the apps described how they focused on maintenance.…”

Deconstructing interventions: approaches to studying behavior change techniques across obesity interventions

“…Attention to theory-based interventions and intervention mapping were important efforts to ground intervention design in what is known about behavioral sciences. The focus on theory in intervention development was associated with calls to understand causal mechanisms of change or "how" interventions had their effects, with more thoughtful process evaluation, planned mediational analysis [29] and coding scheme development to delineate the extent to which interventions are based on theory [30][31][32][33].…”

“…This approach is complementary to TIDieR and ITAX as it focuses on the content or "what" the intervention is doing to change behavior vs. other aspects of interventions such as dose, delivery, etc. A project involving 400 international experts resulted in a 93-item cross-domain Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy v1 (BCTTv1) where techniques used to change behavior were grouped by a Delphi process into 16 higher order domains [33]. A behavior change technique, or BCT, is defined as an observable, replicable, and irreducible component of an intervention designed to alter or redirect causal processes that regulate behavior; that is, a technique is proposed to be an "active ingredient" (e.g., feedback, self-monitoring, and reinforcement) [33].…”