Experienced facilitators and challenges of practising motivational interaction: How can pre-service physical education teachers adopt more motivational behaviours?

OBJECTIVES: Health promotion professionals can contribute to high-quality motivation and sustained health behaviours, for example, physical activity (PA), using motivational interaction with their target groups. However, evidence shows that even after comprehensive training, professionals do not optimally adopt motivational counselling styles. To improve efforts to help professionals take up and sustain motivational interaction in their practice, we need a better understanding of influences on practising these styles. This study set out to investigate pre-service physical education (PE) teachers' experienced facilitators and challenges of practising motivational interaction. DESIGN: After a training course that aimed to teach pre-service PE teachers the basic ideas and practical techniques of motivational interaction, 19 participants were interviewed. METHODS: Inductive content analysis was employed to investigate semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: We developed three categories each including both facilitators and challenges of practising motivational interaction: (1) own style of interaction functioned as a basis for practising and involved (a) confidence in skills and resources as well as (b) reflecting, overcoming and forming habits, (2) regulation of one's own behaviour: autonomy and responsibility involved the freedom to choose and plan how to practise but also bearing responsibility for it, and (3) pursuing authentic interaction related to the search for natural ways to use motivational interaction with others. CONCLUSIONS: We provide suggestions on how future training can make use of this knowledge and systematically make use of behaviour change science to foster practising motivational interaction, for example, using self-regulation strategies and habit-forming/breaking skills.

From a false sense of safety to resilience under uncertainty.

Understanding and acting upon risk is notably challenging, and navigating complexity with understandings developed for stable environments may inadvertently build a false sense of safety. Neglecting the potential for non-linear change or "black swan" events - highly impactful but uncommon occurrences - may lead to naive optimisation under assumed stability, exposing systems to extreme risks. For instance, loss aversion is seen as a cognitive bias in stable environments, but it can be an evolutionarily advantageous heuristic when complete destruction is possible. This paper advocates for better accounting of non-linear change in decision-making by leveraging insights from complex systems and psychological sciences, which help to identify blindspots in conventional decision-making and to develop risk mitigation plans that are interpreted contextually. In particular, we propose a framework using attractor landscapes to visualize and interpret complex system dynamics. In this context, attractors are states toward which systems naturally evolve, while tipping points - critical thresholds between attractors - can lead to profound, unexpected changes impacting a system's resilience and well-being. We present four generic attractor landscape types that provide a novel lens for viewing risks and opportunities, and serve as decision-making contexts. The main practical contribution is clarifying when to emphasize particular strategies - optimisation, risk mitigation, exploration, or stabilization - within this framework. Context-appropriate decision making should enhance system resilience and mitigate extreme risks.

How do behavioral public policy experts see the role of complex systems perspectives? An expert interview study.

Amidst the global momentum of behavioral insights (BI), there has been a shift from mostly nudge-based BI applications to systemic approaches. This is particularly pressing in public health, where interacting issues regularly produce unanticipated consequences. Regardless, little is known about adopting complex systems approaches in behavioral public policy. This study aims to capture current practices of international BI experts on the definition, application, drivers, and hindering factors in adopting complex systems approaches in public policy. Semi-structured individual expert interviews (n = 12) of international BI experts with extensive experience in educating, cooperating with, and/or advising public servants were analyzed with inductive content analysis. While the working definition of BI aligned with published definitions, experts varied in their descriptions of complex systems approaches and its significance for public policy, including socioecological aspects, systematic BI use across policy stages, recognizing intertwined behavior, and lack of ready-made solutions. They emphasized the importance of systems approaches, identifying drivers (e.g. need for a broader focus) and hindrances (e.g. pressure for quick results). Embracing complex systems in behavioral public policy provides a holistic perspective, extending beyond simple nudges, sometimes presumed as universally applicable. While complexity perspectives would align with policymakers' worldview, applications require more work to tailor to local situations and to evaluate. Recognizing that, given their distinct expertise content, BI expertise can be quite different from complex systems expertise. The field would benefit from clear descriptions and specialized training for effective integration and advocacy for these approaches.

In recent years, the use of behavioral insights (BI) in public policy, including health policy, has been shifting from nudges to more comprehensive approaches. This study examines how international BI experts view the use of complex systems approaches in behavioral public policy. Through interviews with 12 experts advising public servants, we found that while BI definitions align with earlier published definitions, experts interpret and apply complex systems approaches differently. Some consider socioecological factors, advocate applying the systematic use of BI throughout the policy cycle, and for some using complex systems approaches means considering intertwined nature of behavioral phenomena and that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. Experts stress the importance of a systems approach, identifying drivers (e.g. need for a broader focus, experience-based expertise) and hindering factors (e.g. advisory settings, pressure for quick results) in its implementation. This study presents BI's evolving role in public policy, highlighting the need for complex systems approaches to address multifaceted societal challenges.

Design of biodegradable cellulose filtration material with high efficiency and breathability.

Using respiratory protective equipment is one of the relevant preventive measures for infectious diseases, including COVID-19, and for various occupational respiratory hazards. Because experienced discomfort may result in a decrease in the utilization of respirators, it is important to enhance the material properties to resolve suboptimal usage. We combined several technologies to produce a filtration material that met requirements set by a cross-disciplinary interview study on the usability of protective equipment. Improved breathability, environmental sustainability, and comfort of the material were achieved by electrospinning poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) nanofibers on a thin foam-formed fabric from regenerated cellulose fibers. The high filtration efficiency of sub-micron-sized diethylhexyl sebacate (DEHS) aerosol particles resulted from the small mean segment length of 0.35 µm of the nanofiber network. For a particle diameter of 0.6 µm, the filtration efficiency of a single PEO layer varied in the range of 80-97 % depending on the coat weight. The corresponding pressure drop had the level of 20-90 Pa for the airflow velocity of 5.3 cm/s. Using a multilayer structure, a very high filtration efficiency of 99.5 % was obtained with only a slightly higher pressure drop. This opens a route toward designing sustainable personal protective media with improved user experience.

A Web-Based Physical Activity Promotion Intervention for Inactive Parent-Child Dyads: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Low levels of physical activity are associated with numerous adverse health outcomes, yet sedentary lifestyles are common among both children and adults. Physical activity levels tend to decline steeply among children aged between 8 and 12 years, even though children's behavioral patterns are largely governed by familial structures. Similarly, parents' activity levels have been generally reported as lower than those of nonparents of comparable age. For this reason, family-based physical activity promotion interventions are a potentially valuable and relatively underresearched method for mitigating physical activity declines as children develop into adolescents and for increasing physical activity in parents. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability of a novel theory-based web-based physical activity promotion intervention among parent-child dyads in Finland who do not meet physical activity recommendations at baseline. METHODS: Participants (target N=254) will be recruited from the general population using a panel company and advertisements on social media and randomly assigned to either an immediate intervention group or a waitlist control group. The intervention consists of 4 web-based group workshops over the course of 10 weeks, web-based tasks and resources, and a social support chat group. Data on physical activity behavior and constructs from the integrated behavior change model will be collected through self-report surveys assessing physical activity, autonomy support, autonomous motivation, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, intention, self-monitoring, habit, and accelerometer measurements at baseline, post intervention, and 3 months post intervention. Exit interviews with participants will assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention procedures. RESULTS: This study will reveal whether the intervention changes leisure-time physical activity among intervention participants relative to the control group and will examine the intervention's effects on important theoretical predictors of physical activity. It will also yield data that can be used to refine intervention materials and inform further implementation. Trial recruitment commenced in September 2023, and data collection should be completed by December 2024. CONCLUSIONS: The planned intervention has potential implications for both theory and practice. Practically, the use of an entirely web-based intervention may have scalable future uses for improving physical activity in 2 key populations, while also potentially informing on the value of dyadic, family-based strategies for encouraging an active lifestyle as an alternative to strategies that target either parents or children independently. Further, by assessing change in psychological constructs alongside potential change in behavior, the intervention also allows for important tests of theory regarding which constructs are most linked to favorable behavior change outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06070038; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06070038. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/55960.

How does a school-based intervention impact students' social cognitions on reducing sedentary behavior over 14 months?

Despite sedentary behavior being ubiquitous in students and detrimental to health, interventions specifically targeting it are mostly restricted to leisure time screen time reduction. With six weekly sessions alongside a poster campaign and an additional teacher intervention, the Let's Move It trial delivered environmental and psychological strategies to increase physical activity (PA) and reduce sedentary behavior (SB) in vocational schools, an understudied environment for behavioral interventions. Participants in the intervention arm considerably reduced sedentary time post-intervention. To investigate how social cognitions about restricting SB, as defined by the Reasoned Action Approach, change in intervention and control arms, self-reported data on social cognitions was collected as part of a cluster-randomized controlled trial from 1166 students (59% female, mage = 18.7 years, range: 16-49) in six vocational schools before, post-intervention, and 14 months post-baseline. Data were analyzed using mixed between-within repeated measures ANOVA. We found greater improvements in intention (F(1, 833) = 9.69; η2p = 0.01; p = .018) and descriptive norms (F(1, 831) = 13.25; η2p = 0.016; p < .001) in the intervention than control arm, but these effects depended on the included control variables. Generally, intervention effects leveled off from post-intervention to follow-up. The Let's Move It intervention for SB reduction showed modest, short-lived effects on social cognitions, indicating that changes in behavior are likely due to other factors like changes to the classroom environment. Optimally, SB reduction interventions should not only change behavior but produce robust changes in conscious intentions to restrict one's sitting, so that positive effects generalize to other contexts.

Basic psychological needs, quality of motivation, and protective behavior intentions: a nationally representative survey study.

Objective: Building on the Self-Determination Theory, this study examines how basic psychological need satisfaction related to COVID-19 behavioral measures is associated with motivation quality and whether motivation quality is associated with intention to wear a face mask and to avoid meeting others. Methods: Cross-sectional survey study involving a nationally representative sample of Finnish adult population aged 18-79 (N = 2272, M age = 48.63, SD = 16.89, 975 men and 1297 women) was conducted in Finland in May 2021 when protective behaviors were recommended to prevent acceleration of the epidemic. Measures included scales of Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in Adhering to COVID Prevention Measures, Motivation to Adhere to COVID Prevention Measures, Perceived Personal Risk, Fear of COVID-19, and Protective Behavior Intention. Analysis of variance tests, linear regression analysis, and multinomial logistic regression were conducted. Perceived personal risk and fear of COVID-19 were controlled for in the regression analyses. Results: All three psychological needs were positively related to autonomous motivation (all p < .001). Autonomous motivation (range OR = 1.82-3.55, p = .001) was consistently related to intention to wear a mask and intention to avoid meeting people. Controlled motivation (range OR = .66-.93, p = .001-.457) was associated with decreased protective behavior intentions. The effects of amotivation (range OR = .65-1.02, p = .001-.911) varied across analyses. Conclusions: Fostering autonomous motivation could increase adherence to protective behaviors in situations without clear mandates.

Self-enactable techniques to influence basic psychological needs and regulatory styles within self-determination theory: An expert opinion study.

While a large body of research on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) has identified characteristics of social environments that are conducive to optimal motivation, research has scarcely considered what individuals might themselves do to optimize motivation. Using the compendium of self-enactable techniques, this expert opinion study aimed to identify conceptual linkages between 123 self-enactable techniques and nine core SDT constructs. International scholars (n = 67) judged a block-randomized subset of 30-40 self-enactable techniques for their likely impacts on SDT constructs. Theoretically plausible linkages between self-enactable techniques and SDT constructs are visualized as a network. Seven techniques (i.e., Brainstorm options, Goal integration, Support others, Find meaning in target behaviour, Associate identity with changed behaviour, Valued self-identity, and Emphasize autonomy) were adjudged as having potential beneficial impacts on five or more SDT constructs. Interventions requiring participant engagement, for example self-management or lifestyle counseling, will benefit from a better understanding of motivation self-management.

Attractor landscapes: a unifying conceptual model for understanding behaviour change across scales of observation.

Models and theories in behaviour change science are not in short supply, but they almost exclusively pertain to a particular facet of behaviour, such as automaticity or reasoned action, or to a single scale of observation such as individuals or communities. We present a highly generalisable conceptual model which is widely used in complex systems research from biology to physics, in an accessible form to behavioural scientists. The proposed model of attractor landscapes can be used to understand human behaviour change on different levels, from individuals to dyads, groups and societies. We use the model as a tool to present neglected ideas in contemporary behaviour change science, such as hysteresis and nonlinearity. The model of attractor landscapes can deepen understanding of well-known features of behaviour change (research), including short-livedness of intervention effects, problematicity of focusing on behavioural initiation while neglecting behavioural maintenance, continuum and stage models of behaviour change understood within a single accommodating framework, and the concept of resilience. We also demonstrate potential methods of analysis and outline avenues for future research.

Developing habit-based health behaviour change interventions: twenty-one questions to guide future research.

OBJECTIVE: Habitual behaviours are triggered automatically, with little conscious forethought. Theory suggests that making healthy behaviours habitual, and breaking the habits that underpin many ingrained unhealthy behaviours, promotes long-term behaviour change. This has prompted interest in incorporating habit formation and disruption strategies into behaviour change interventions. Yet, notable research gaps limit understanding of how to harness habit to change real-world behaviours. METHODS: Discussions among health psychology researchers and practitioners, at the 2019 European Health Psychology Society 'Synergy Expert Meeting', generated pertinent questions to guide further research into habit and health behaviour. RESULTS: In line with the four topics discussed at the meeting, 21 questions were identified, concerning: how habit manifests in health behaviour (3 questions); how to form healthy habits (5 questions); how to break unhealthy habits (4 questions); and how to develop and evaluate habit-based behaviour change interventions (9 questions). CONCLUSIONS: While our questions transcend research contexts, accumulating knowledge across studies of specific health behaviours, settings, and populations will build a broader understanding of habit change principles and how they may be embedded into interventions. We encourage researchers and practitioners to prioritise these questions, to further theory and evidence around how to create long-lasting health behaviour change.

A dual process model to predict adolescents' screen time and physical activity.

OBJECTIVE: Many adolescents report a lack of physical activity (PA) and excess screen time (ST). Psychological theories aiming to understand these behaviours typically focus on predictors of only one behaviour. Yet, behaviour enactment is often a choice between options. This study sought to examine predictors of PA and ST in a single model. Variables were drawn from dual process models, which portray behaviour as the outcome of deliberative and automatic processes. DESIGN: 411 Finnish vocational school students (age 17-19) completed a survey, comprising variables from the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA) and automaticity pertaining to PA and ST, and self-reported PA and ST four weeks later. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported time spent on PA and ST and their predictors. RESULTS: PA and ST correlated negatively (r = -.17, p = .03). Structural equation modelling revealed that intentions and habit for PA predicted PA while ST was predicted by intentions and habit for ST and negatively by PA intentions. RAA-cognitions predicted intentions. CONCLUSION: PA and ST and their psychological predictors seem to be weakly interlinked. Future studies should assess more behaviours and related psychological influences to get a better picture of connections between different behaviours.HighlightsPhysical activity and screen time are largely mutually exclusive classes of behaviours and might therefore be related in terms of their psychological predictors.411 adolescent vocational school students self-reported variables from the Reasoned Action Approach and behavioural automaticity related to physical activity and leisure time screen time behaviours as well as those behaviours.Structural equation modelling revealed expected within-behaviour predictions but, against expectations, no strong connections between the two behaviour classes in terms of their predictors. Only intentions to engage in physical activity negatively predicted screen time.Future research should aim to measure a wider range of mutually exclusive classes of behaviours that cover a large share of the day to uncover relations between behaviours and their respective predictors.

Uptake of and Motivational Responses to Mental Health-Promoting Practices: Comparing Relaxation and Mindfulness Interventions.

Background: Comparative analyses of alternative interventions within the same trial enable acceptability and fidelity of each to be investigated more critically. In addition, whereas so far studies have focused on efficacy evaluations, more understanding is needed on motivational factors influencing the uptake of mental health-promoting practices rather than solely their effects. Purpose: This study investigates whether the motivational responses to a mindfulness intervention are different from a relaxation intervention. We compare social cognitions outlined by the reasoned action approach and their roles in practice uptake, self-reported reasons for non-practice, and experienced benefits. Methods: In a cluster-randomized trial (ISRCTN18642659; N = 3134), 12-15-year-old participants were given a 9-week intervention and followed up to 52 weeks. Main statistical analyses included t-tests, mixed ANOVAs, path models, and chi-square tests. Results: Social cognitions in the mindfulness arm were slightly more positive immediately post-intervention, but recipients mostly responded similarly to the two interventions in the longer term. While attitudes, norms, intention, and self-efficacy were relatively high post-intervention, most of them slightly decreased by 26 weeks. Main reasons for non-practice in both arms included not finding the exercises helpful, no felt need, boringness of exercises and forgetting. The most common benefits experienced by practicing respondents were stress management and concentration ability. Better sleep was a more frequently reported benefit in the relaxation arm, but no other major differences emerged. Conclusion: This study offers an example of comparing motivational responses to experimental and active control arm interventions, a potentially helpful approach in improving intervention adherence.

Individual and collective protective responses during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in 10 different countries: Results from the EUCLID online survey.

BACKGROUND: In times of unprecedented infectious disease threats, it is essential to understand how to increase individual protective behaviors and support for collective measures. The present study therefore examines factors associated with individual and collective pathways. METHODS: Data was collected through an online survey from 4483 participants (70.8% female, M = 41.2 years) across 10 countries from April 15, 2020 to June 2, 2020 as part of the "EUCLID" project (https://euclid.dbvis.de). Structural equation modeling was used to examine individual and collective pathways across and within countries. RESULTS: Overall, the adoption of individual protective behaviors and support for collective measures were high. Risk perception on the individual level and perceived effectiveness at the collective level were positively associated with both individual protective behaviors and support for collective measures. Furthermore, the model explained considerable variance in individual (40.7%) and collective protective behaviors (40.8%) and was largely replicated across countries. CONCLUSIONS: The study extends previous research by demonstrating that individual risk perception and perceived effectiveness of collective measures jointly affect individual protective health behaviors and support for collective measures. These findings highlight the need to jointly consider a variety of behavioral actions against infectious disease threats, acknowledging interactions between individual and collective pathways.

Uptake of planning as a self-regulation strategy: Adolescents' reasons for (not) planning physical activity in an intervention trial.

OBJECTIVES: Planning is an effective self-regulation strategy. However, little is known why some people take up planning and some do not. Such understanding would help interventions to promote planning. We investigated how adolescents explain their (non) use of planning for physical activity after an intervention. METHODS: Qualitative content analysis was employed to investigate follow-up interviews (a purposeful sampling; n = 19 low-to-moderately active, vocational school students) of Let's Move It trial participants twice post-intervention: 6-8 weeks and 14 months post-baseline. In the intervention, planning was one of the key techniques used to promote PA. RESULTS: We identified seven categories linked to reasons for (not) using planning. Most were related to feelings anticipated to result from planning. Action- and identity-related concerns were also raised. The reasons for planning were that the plan (1) helps to clarify what to do and to get things done, (2) strengthens the feeling of autonomy, (3) promotes a sense of progress, ability and control over one's PA. The reasons for not planning were that (having) a plan may (1) feel forced and like an unpleasant duty, (2) take away life's spontaneity and freedom, (3) result in anticipated annoyance and bad mood if one fails to enact the plan, or (4) be an effective strategy for others but not for the interviewee. CONCLUSIONS: Planning may not only link to behavioural control but also the sense of autonomy, and thus subsequent motivation. We suggest various strategies to promote planning, including challenging non-planner identity and harnessing social dimension of planning.

Changing healthcare professionals' non-reflective processes to improve the quality of care.

RATIONALE: Translating research evidence into clinical practice to improve care involves healthcare professionals adopting new behaviours and changing or stopping their existing behaviours. However, changing healthcare professional behaviour can be difficult, particularly when it involves changing repetitive, ingrained ways of providing care. There is an increasing focus on understanding healthcare professional behaviour in terms of non-reflective processes, such as habits and routines, in addition to the more often studied deliberative processes. Theories of habit and routine provide two complementary lenses for understanding healthcare professional behaviour, although to date, each perspective has only been applied in isolation. OBJECTIVES: To combine theories of habit and routine to generate a broader understanding of healthcare professional behaviour and how it might be changed. METHODS: Sixteen experts met for a two-day multidisciplinary workshop on how to advance implementation science by developing greater understanding of non-reflective processes. RESULTS: From a psychological perspective 'habit' is understood as a process that maintains ingrained behaviour through a learned link between contextual cues and behaviours that have become associated with those cues. Theories of habit are useful for understanding the individual's role in developing and maintaining specific ways of working. Theories of routine add to this perspective by describing how clinical practices are formed, adapted, reinforced and discontinued in and through interactions with colleagues, systems and organisational procedures. We suggest a selection of theory-based strategies to advance understanding of healthcare professionals' habits and routines and how to change them. CONCLUSION: Combining theories of habit and routines has the potential to advance implementation science by providing a fuller understanding of the range of factors, operating at multiple levels of analysis, which can impact on the behaviours of healthcare professionals, and so quality of care provision.

School-based mindfulness intervention for depressive symptoms in adolescence: For whom is it most effective?

INTRODUCTION: There is accumulating evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in alleviating depressive symptoms. A crucial question is, however, whether mindfulness interventions are more effective for some individuals than others, depending on individual characteristics before a mindfulness intervention. We exploratorily investigated whether the effectiveness of school-based mindfulness intervention against depressive symptoms is modified by executive functions, rumination, and emotion regulation among adolescents. METHODS: The longitudinal data included adolescents with at least mild depressive symptoms at the baseline (n = 369, at the 6th-8th grade, 68.4% female) who were randomized into a 9-week school-based mindfulness intervention group, into an active control group receiving relaxation program, or into an inactive control group. Adolescents' executive functions, rumination, and emotion regulation (i.e., acceptance, catastrophizing, and positive reappraisal) were assessed at the baseline; and depressive symptoms at three time points (at the baseline and at 9-week and 6-month follow-ups). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: In adolescents with at least mild depressive symptoms at the baseline, high catastrophizing, high acceptance, and low executive functions were found to increase the effectiveness of mindfulness-based intervention against depressive symptoms. There seemed to be some sex differences. Thus, when aiming to alleviate depressive symptoms, mindfulness-based intervention may possibly be more effective for adolescents with high catastrophizing, high acceptance, and low executive functioning (than for adolescents with the opposite dispositions). However, as this study was exploratory by nature and corrections for multiple testing were not used, the findings must be regarded as preliminary and need confirmation in further studies.

Latent profile analysis as a method for process evaluations: Discovering response subgroups in a mindfulness intervention.

RATIONALE: Clustering techniques have been used within intervention studies to locate any distinct subgroups among intervention participants. One way in which they have not yet been utilized, but for which there is potential benefit, is in finding different motivational and behavioral response types to a newly introduced behavior. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to use latent profile analyses (the same as latent class analyses except with continuous indicator variables) to identify 1) types, or classes, in terms of social cognitive responses to a mindfulness intervention, using The Reasoned Action Approach constructs, and 2) longitudinal/change trajectory classes of the target behavior (i.e., mindfulness practice). METHODS: The data derived from a school-based mindfulness intervention (N = 1646) among 12-15 year-olds, conducted in southern Finland from 2014 to 2016. We explored associations between the identified classes and with gender, linguocultural group, and mental health and practice outcomes. RESULTS: Analyses indicated a solution of five latent classes for both social cognition post-intervention-Uncertain but Positive (40.2%), Acceptable but No (18.8%), Indifferent (16.8), Inclined (15.5%), Disinclined (8.6%)-and practice trajectories-Stable Low (52.1%), Decreased from Seldom (25.8%), Decreased from Sometimes (10.7%), Increased from Zero (6.8%), Increased from Seldom (4.6%). The strongest differentiating theoretical construct among the social cognitive classes was a descriptive norm. The classes were characterized by some associations between each other (e.g., "Acceptable but No" and "Stable Low") and with linguocultural groups (e.g., "Inclined" and small language minorities) and mental health (e.g., "Disinclined" and externalization and depressive symptoms), but no specific associations were found by gender. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows how more person-centered analyses can be utilized in process evaluations, which predominantly only make use of variable-centered analyses. This knowledge could suggest ways to tailor universal interventions for subgroups with different receipt profiles and thereby improve intervention acceptability and engagement.

Enhancing the translation of health behaviour change research into practice: a selective conceptual review of the synergy between implementation science and health psychology.

Health psychology is at the forefront of developing and disseminating evidence, theories, and methods that have improved the understanding of health behaviour change. However, current dissemination approaches may be insufficient for promoting broader application and impact of this evidence to benefit the health of patients and the public. Nevertheless, behaviour change theory/methods typically directed towards health behaviours are now used in implementation science to understand and support behaviour change in individuals at different health system levels whose own behaviour impacts delivering evidence-based health behaviour change interventions. Despite contributing to implementation science, health psychology is perhaps doing less to draw from it. A redoubled focus on implementation science in health psychology could provide novel prospects for enhancing the impact of health behaviour change evidence. We report a Health Psychology Review-specific review-of-reviews of trials of health behaviour change interventions published from inception to April 2020. We identified 34 reviews and assessed whether implementation readiness of behaviour change interventions was discussed. We then narratively review how implementation science has integrated theory/methods from health psychology and related discipline. Finally, we demonstrate how greater synergy between implementation science and health psychology could promote greater follow-through on advances made in the science of health behaviour change.

Developing and using ontologies in behavioural science: addressing issues raised.

Ontologies are ways of representing aspects of the world in terms of uniquely defined classes of 'entities' and relationships between them. They are widely used in biological science, data science and commerce because they provide clarity, consistency, and the ability to link information and data from different sources. Ontologies offer great promise as representational systems in behavioural science and could revolutionise descriptions of studies and findings, and the expression of models and theories. This paper discusses issues that have been raised about using ontologies in behavioural science and how these can be addressed. The issues arise partly from the way that ontologies represent information, which can be perceived as reductionist or simplistic, and partly from issues to do with their implementation. However, despite the simplicity of their structure, ontologies can represent complex entities that change over time, as well as their inter-relationships and highly nuanced information about them. Nevertheless, ontologies are only one of many ways of representing information and it is important to recognise when other forms are more efficient. With regard to implementation, it is important to build ontologies with involvement from the communities who will be using them. Far from constraining intellectual creativity, ontologies that are broadly-based can facilitate expression of nuance, comparison of findings and integration of different approaches and theories. Maintaining and updating ontologies remain significant challenges but can be achieved through establishing and coordinating communities of practice.

Predictors of school students' leisure-time physical activity: An extended trans-contextual model using Bayesian path analysis.

The present study aimed to examine effects of motivational and social cognition constructs on children's leisure-time physical activity participation alongside constructs representing implicit processes using an extended trans-contextual model. The study adopted a correlational prospective design. Secondary-school students (N = 502) completed self-report measures of perceived autonomy support from physical education (PE) teachers, autonomous motivation in PE and leisure-time contexts, and social cognition constructs (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control), intentions, trait self-control, habits, and past behavior in a leisure-time physical activity context. Five weeks later, students (N = 298) self-reported their leisure-time physical activity participation. Bayesian path analyses supported two key premises of the model: perceived autonomy support was related to autonomous motivation in PE, and autonomous motivation in PE was related to autonomous motivation in leisure time. Indirect effects indicated that both forms of autonomous motivation were related to social cognition constructs and intentions. However, intention was not related to leisure-time physical activity participation, so model variables reflecting motivational processes did not account for substantive variance in physical activity participation. Self-control, attitudes, and past behavior were direct predictors of intentions and leisure-time physical activity participation. There were indirect effects of autonomous motivation in leisure time on intentions and physical activity participation mediated by self-control. Specifying informative priors for key model relations using Bayesian analysis yielded greater precision for some model effects. Findings raise some questions on the predictive validity of constructs from the original trans-contextual model in the current sample, but highlight the value of extending the model to incorporate additional constructs representing non-conscious processes.