Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Resource
  • Published:

The compendium of self-enactable techniques to change and self-manage motivation and behaviour v.1.0

Nature Human Behaviour volume 4, pages 215–223 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Behaviour change techniques describe the content of behaviour change interventions, but do not adequately account for the actions that people must themselves undertake to successfully change or self-manage motivation or behaviour. This paper describes the development of a compendium of self-enactable techniques, combining behaviour- and motivation-regulation techniques across six existing classifications of behaviour change techniques and three scoping reviews. The compendium includes 123 techniques, each of which is labelled, defined and presented with instructive examples to facilitate self-enactment. Qualitative feedback was gathered from intervention developers and the general public to improve the utility, congruence and ease of self-enactability of the techniques. This integrative index of self-enactable techniques can assist intervention developers in selecting appropriate self-directed techniques to help people self-manage their motivation and behaviour. Future research with this compendium can expand on the number of behaviours covered by the instructive examples and link techniques with their potential impacts on factors that influence behaviours.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Outline of the compendium development process.
Fig. 2: Results of the expert review exercise.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its Supplementary Files. All supplementary files, including copies of the Supplementary Files 1–5 hosted by Nature Human Behaviour, are available via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/pqfjz/; Supplementary Files A–F are available only at https://osf.io/pqfjz/, where any future updates will also be made available.

References

  1. Sheeran, P. et al. The impact of changing attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy on health-related intentions and behavior: a meta-analysis. Health Psychol. 35, 1178–1188 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Marcolino, M. S. et al. The impact of mHealth interventions: systematic review of systematic reviews. JMIR mHealth uHealth 6, e23 (2018).

  3. Ahn, S., Smith, M. L., Altpeter, M., Post, L. & Ory, M. G. Healthcare cost savings estimator tool for chronic disease self-management program: a new tool for program administrators and decision makers. Front. Public Health 3, 42 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Riegel, B. et al. Self‐care for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease and stroke. J. Am. Heart Assoc. 6, e006997 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Michie, S. et al. From theory-inspired to theory-based interventions: a protocol for developing and testing a methodology for linking behaviour change techniques to theoretical mechanisms of action. Ann. Behav. Med 52, 501–512 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Abraham, C. & Michie, S. A taxonomy of behavior change techniques used in interventions. Health Psychol. 27, 379–387 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Michie, S., Fixsen, D., Grimshaw, J. M. & Eccles, M. P. Specifying and reporting complex behaviour change interventions: the need for a scientific method. Implement. Sci. 4, 40 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Michie, S., Johnston, M. & Carey, R. Behavior change techniques. in Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine (ed. Gellman, M.) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_1661-3 (Springer, 2019).

  9. Michie, S. et al. Behaviour change techniques: the development and evaluation of a taxonomic method for reporting and describing behaviour change interventions (a suite of five studies involving consensus methods, randomised controlled trials and analysis of qualitative data). Health Technol. Assess. 19, 1–188 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Michie, S. et al. The behavior change technique taxonomy (v1) of 93 hierarchically clustered techniques: building an international consensus for the reporting of behavior change interventions. Ann. Behav. Med. 46, 81–95 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Kok, G. et al. A taxonomy of behaviour change methods: an Intervention Mapping approach. Health Psychol. Rev. 10, 297–312 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Hardcastle, S. J., Fortier, M., Blake, N. & Hagger, M. S. Identifying content-based and relational techniques to change behaviour in motivational interviewing. Health Psychol. Rev. 11, 1–16 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. William, M. R. & Rollnick, S. Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change 3rd edn (Guilford Press, 2012).

  14. Hartmann‐Boyce, J., Aveyard, P., Koshiaris, C. & Jebb, S. A. Development of tools to study personal weight control strategies: OxFAB taxonomy. Obesity 24, 314–320 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Marques, M. M., Teixeira, P. J., Silva, M. S. & Hagger, M. S. Specifying the active components of self-determination theory-based change interventions in health contexts: an expert consensus study. Preprint at PsyArXiv https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/z9wqu (2019).

  16. Maes, S. & Karoly, P. Self-regulation assessment and intervention in physical health and illness: a review. Appl. Psychol. 54, 267–299 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Hollands, G. J. et al. The TIPPME intervention typology for changing environments to change behaviour. Nat. Hum. Behav. 1, 0140 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Duckworth, A. L., Milkman, K. L. & Laibson, D. Beyond willpower: strategies for reducing failures of self-control. Psychol. Sci. Public Interest 19, 102–129 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Hankonen, N. Participants’ enactment of behavior change techniques: a call for increased focus on what people do to manage their motivation and behaviour. Preprint at PsyArXiv https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/pa4wg (2018).

  20. Richardson, M. J., Dale, R. & Marsh, K. L. in Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology 2nd edn (eds Reis, H. T. & Judd, C. M.) 253–282 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014).

  21. Shiell, A., Hawe, P. & Gold, L. Complex interventions or complex systems? Implications for health economic evaluation. BMJ 336, 1281–1283 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Bellg, A. J. et al. Enhancing treatment fidelity in health behavior change studies: best practices and recommendations from the NIH Behavior Change Consortium. Health Psychol. 23, 443–451 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Knittle, K., De Gucht, V., Hurkmans, E., Vlieland, T. V. & Maes, S. Explaining physical activity maintenance after a theory-based intervention among patients with rheumatoid arthritis: process evaluation of a randomized controlled trial. Arthritis Care Res. 68, 203–210 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Hankonen, N. et al. Which behavior change techniques are associated with changes in physical activity, diet and body mass index in people with recently diagnosed diabetes? Ann. Behav. Med. 49, 7–17 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Burke, L. E., Wang, J. & Sevick, M. A. Self-monitoring in weight loss: a systematic review of the literature. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 111, 92–102 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Moore, G. F. et al. From complex social interventions to interventions in complex social systems: future directions and unresolved questions for intervention development and evaluation. Evaluation 25, 23–45 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Rickles, D., Hawe, P. & Shiell, A. A simple guide to chaos and complexity. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 61, 933–937 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. Tims, M., Bakker, A. B. & Derks, D. The impact of job crafting on job demands, job resources, and well-being. J. Occup. Health Psychol. 18, 230–240 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Demerouti, E., Peeters, M. C. W. & van den Heuvel, M. in Positive Psychological Intervention Design and Protocols for Multi-Cultural Contexts (eds. Van Zyl, L. E. & Rothmann Sr., S.) 103–125 (Springer International Publishing, 2019).

  30. Brick, N., MacIntyre, T. & Campbell, M. Attentional focus in endurance activity: new paradigms and future directions. Int. Rev. Sport Exerc. Psychol. 7, 106–134 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Van Raalte, J. L., Vincent, A. & Brewer, B. W. Self-talk: review and sport-specific model. Psychol. Sport Exerc. 22, 139–148 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Kim, T., Jimenez-Diaz, J. & Chen, J. The effect of attentional focus in balancing tasks: a systematic review with meta-analysis. J. Hum. Sport Exerc. 12, 463–479 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Bottiroli, S., Cavallini, E., Dunlosky, J., Vecchi, T. & Hertzog, C. Self-guided strategy-adaption training for older adults: transfer effects to everyday tasks. Arch. Gerontol. Geriatr. 72, 91–98 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Fleiss, J. L. Measuring nominal scale agreement among many raters. Psychol. Bull. 76, 378–382 (1971).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Flesch, R. A new readability yardstick. J. Appl. Psychol. 32, 221–233 (1948).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Kincaid, J., Fishburne, R., Rogers, R. & Chissom, B. Derivation of New Readability Formulas (Automated Readability Index, Fog Count and Flesch Reading Ease Formula) for Navy Enlisted Personnel (Institute for Simulation and Training, 1975).

  37. Lorencatto, F., West, R., Bruguera, C., Brose, L. S. & Michie, S. Assessing the quality of goal setting in behavioural support for smoking cessation and its association with outcomes. Ann. Behav. Med. 50, 310–318 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Black, N. et al. Enhancing behavior change technique coding methods: identifying behavioral targets and delivery styles in smoking cessation trials. Ann. Behav. Med. 53, 583–591 (2018).

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  39. Sekhon, M., Cartwright, M. & Francis, J. J. Acceptability of healthcare interventions: an overview of reviews and development of a theoretical framework. BMC Health Serv. Res. 17, 88 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  40. Urrea, B. et al. Mobile health initiatives to improve outcomes in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Curr. Treat. Options Cardiovasc. Med. 17, 59 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Schroeder, J. & Fishbach, A. How to motivate yourself and others? Intended and unintended consequences. Res. Organ. Behav. 35, 123–141 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Guerdjikova, A. I., Mori, N., Casuto, L. S. & McElroy, S. L. Binge eating disorder. Psychiatr. Clin. 40, 255–266 (2017).

    Google Scholar 

  43. Michie, S. et al. A refined taxonomy of behaviour change techniques to help people change their physical activity and healthy eating behaviours: the CALO-RE taxonomy. Psychol. Health 26, 1479–1498 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Brabham, D. C. Crowdsourcing as a model for problem solving: an introduction and cases. Convergence 14, 75–90 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Carey, R. N. et al. Behavior change techniques and their mechanisms of action: a synthesis of links described in published intervention literature. Ann. Behav. Med. 53, 693–707 (2019).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Johnston, M. et al. Linking behavior change techniques and mechanisms of action: triangulation of findings from literature synthesis and expert consensus. Preprint at PsyArXiv https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ur6kz (2018).

  47. Connell, L. E. et al. Links between behavior change techniques and mechanisms of action: an expert consensus study. Ann. Behav. Med. 53, 708–720 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. The Theory and Techniques Tool. HumanBehaviourChange.org https://theoryandtechniquetool.humanbehaviourchange.org/ (Human Behaviour Change Project, 2019).

  49. Greaves, C. J. Uptake of behavior change techniques – a key focus for process analysis and for intervention delivery: a comment on Hankonen et al. Ann. Behav. Med. 49, 1–2 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Bradbury, K., Watts, S., Arden-Close, E., Yardley, L. & Lewith, G. Developing digital interventions: a methodological guide. Evid. Based Complement. Alternat. Med. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/561320 (2014)

  51. de Vries, H. & Brug, J. Computer-tailored interventions motivating people to adopt health promoting behaviours: introduction to a new approach. Patient Educ. Couns. 36, 99–105 (1999).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M. The ‘what’ and ‘why’ of goal pursuits: human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychol. Inq. 11, 227–268 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Hemingway Editor http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ (.38 Long, LLC, 2015).

Download references

Acknowledgements

The contributions of K.K., M.H., M.S. and M.B. to this work were funded by the Academy of Finland (project grant no. 295765 to N.H. as principal investigator). N.H.’s contribution was supported by Academy of Finland Research Fellowship (grant no. 285283). M.M.M. is funded by a Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship (Co-fund EDGE programme, grant agreement no. 713567). M.H.’s contribution was supported by a Finland Distinguished Professor (FiDiPro) award (Dnro 1801/31/2105) from Business Finland. These funders had no role in the conceptualization, design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. We thank the following expert review participants, whose insights and feedback were vital in carrying out this work: R. Carey, T. Corbett, S. Dombrowski, L. Fleig, J. Inauen, D. Kwasnicka, J. McSharry, L. Morrison, E. Norris, H. Patrick, S. Pears, J. Presseau, A. Rodrigues, K. Sainsbury, M. Silva, J. Spook and L. Warner.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Keegan Knittle, Matti Heino, Marguerite Beattie & Nelli Hankonen

  2. ADAPT Research Centre and Trinity Centre for Practice & Health Care Innovation, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Marta M. Marques

  3. Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

    Minna Stenius

  4. Arcada University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland

    Minna Stenius

  5. Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands

    Franziska Ehbrecht

  6. School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA, USA

    Martin S. Hagger

  7. Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Martin S. Hagger

  8. School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Wendy Hardeman

Authors
  1. Keegan Knittle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matti Heino
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marta M. Marques
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Minna Stenius
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Marguerite Beattie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Franziska Ehbrecht
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Martin S. Hagger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Wendy Hardeman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Nelli Hankonen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

N.H. conceived the study and acquired funding. K.K., M.H., M.M.M., M.S., M.S.H., W.H. and N.H. contributed to its design. K.K., M.H., M.M.M., M.S., M.B., F.E. and N.H. acquired data. K.K., M.H., M.M.M., M.S., M.B., F.E. and N.H. analysed data. K.K., M.H., M.M.M., M.S., M.B., F.E., W.H. and N.H. interpreted data. K.K., M.H., M.M.M., M.S., M.B., F.E. and N.H. drafted the manuscript. All authors substantively revised the manuscript. All authors approved the submitted manuscript and any substantially modified version that involved the author’s contribution to the study. All authors agree both to be personally accountable for the author’s own contributions and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work, even those in which the author was not personally involved, are appropriately investigated, resolved and the resolution documented in the literature.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nelli Hankonen.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

M.S.H., W.H. and M.M.M. are co-authors of existing taxonomies of behaviour change techniques that have informed this work. The authors declare no other competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Primary handling editors: Mary Elizabeth Sutherland and Stavroula Kousta

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Results: list version of the compendium (Supplementary File 1) and plain-language introduction (Supplementary File 2).

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Data 1.

Supplementary Files 3, 4 and 5.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Knittle, K., Heino, M., Marques, M.M. et al. The compendium of self-enactable techniques to change and self-manage motivation and behaviour v.1.0. Nat Hum Behav 4, 215–223 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0798-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0798-9

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing