Most decisions in policy, service or communications development are made by people who are not behavioural science experts, and they do not need to be. However, behavioural science can add value to the efforts of nearly all practitioners and policy makers – supporting that development is a major goal for the Unit. Developing an understanding of the basic principles of behavioural science and how to enable its application within a project, team, or organisation are key to increasing its use across the system.
Interest in behavioural science is quickly building, there are some great resources, tools, and guidance already out there for you to learn from and apply in your everyday practice. In addition to sharing our own resources, we have collated what we have found useful in the pages below.
We’ve split them up depending on which step in the behavioural science process you’re currently at, more details about the steps can be found here.
Please note that some of the information links included are from external organisations and no Welsh language equivalent is available. We apologise for this.
Define Diagnose Select Intervention Type Select Implementation Type Build Intervention Deliver General
| Title | Author | Description | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy | UCL Centre for Behaviour Change | Details of 93 behaviour change techniques (BCTs) with labels, definitions and examples. | View webpage |
| Behaviour Change Techniques Taxonomy Training | UCL Centre for Behaviour Change | Training on the behaviour change technique taxonomy | View webpage |
| Behavioural and Social Drivers of vaccination: Tools and Practical Guidance for Achieving High Uptake | World Health Organisation | Behavioural and soial drivers of vaccination: tools and practical guidance for achieving high uptake. | View webpage |
| Behavioural Insights Templates, Letters and Tools | Local Government Association | A collection of behavioural science tools which local authorities have used to successfully influence residents behaviour. | View webpage |
| Countering Misinformation | Local Government Association | A range of resources from the Local Government Association aimed at tackling misinformation. | View webpage |
| Decision Support for Behavioural and Social Science Frameworks for Public Health | Behavioural Science Public Health Network and Department for Health and Social Care | The tool is designed for practitioners and policy makers working in public health who want to use frameworks or methods from the behavioural or social sciences to improve services or processes where behaviour may play a part. It is primarily designed for those without specialist knowledge of the behavioural and social sciences, although it is hoped it will be useful for all practitioners. The decision support tool is a single page matrix, designed to be kept to hand to refer to whenever working on something that might benefit from the application of Behavioural Science. It proposes models and frameworks that can be used at various stages in the development of an intervention. | View resource |
| Developing Behaviourally Informed Communications (Behavioural Science Unit) | Behavioural Science Unit | An interactive tool to help you take a behaviourally informed approach when designing your communications | View resource |
| EAST Framework | Behavioural Insights Team | Information on how to make behaviour change easy, attractive, social and timely (EAST). | View webpage |
| Enabling Behaviour Change | Department for Transport | This guidance outlines some of the key issues to consider in the development of initiatives which seek to enable changes in people’s travel behaviour and offers practical tips when considering options for addressing barriers to sustainable behaviours. | View webpage |
| Encouraging Hand Hygiene in the Community | British Psychological Society | A summary of COM-B based insights and ready-to-take actions on how to increase hand washing behaviour in the community with focus on Covid-19. | View resource |
| Family Weight Management: Changing Behaviour Techniques | UK Government | This guide summarises work to explore the behaviour change techniques (BCTs), which should feature in approaches to support families with primary school-aged children (4-11 years) on a healthy weight journey. Such approaches fit within a local place based whole systems approach to promoting a healthy weight. The behaviour change techniques referred to in the guide are from the Behaviour Change Centre Techniques Taxonomy Version 1 (BCTT.v1) | View webpage |
| Health In Europe Podcast: Mind Over Matter: The Influence of Behavioural and Cultural Factors on Health Outcomes | World Health Organisation | Behavioral and cultural insights utilize social sciences to tackle ongoing health issues. In this conversation Bhanu Bhatnagar, Press and Media Relations Officer at WHO Regional Office for Europe, spoke with Dr Saad Omer, Director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, to find out more about why behavioural and cultural insights matter to public health. | View webpage |
| Identifying and Applying Behaviour Change Techniques | Behavioural Science Unit | A practical, interactive tool that introduces Behaviour Change Techniques, considered to be the ‘active ingredients’ of behaviour change interventions. The tool walks you through how to identify and deliver Behaviour Change Techniques, drawing on the COM-B model and Behaviour Change Wheel. | View resource |
| Improving health and wellbeing: A guide to using behavioural science in policy and practice (Behavioural Science Unit) | Behavioural Science Unit | A guide for practitioners and policy makers explaining how behavioural science can be used and applied in practice | View resource |
| MINDSPACE | The Behavioural Insights Team | This document sets out nine robust influences on behaviour, captured in a mnemonic – MINDSPACE – which can be used as a quick checklist when making policy. | View webpage |
| Motivational Interviewing Tools and Resources | Psychology Tools | Tools focused on motivational interviewing principles, four processes in motivational interviewing, and core skills in motivational interviewing | View webpage |
| Optimising Vaccination Uptake for Covid-19 | British Psychological Society | High level health psychology insight into optimising policies and communication on communicable disease prevention with a focus on COVID-19. | View resource |
| Re-imaging Help Guide | Nesta, Macmillan Cancer Support, British Heart Foundation, UCL Centre for Behaviour Change | An evidenced-based approach to helping people reach their goals - health and wellbeing interactions informed by behaviour change research | View resource |
| RESIST 2 Counter Disinformation Toolkit | Civil Service | This toolkit will help support governments and communicators to effectively reduce the impact of mis/disinformation through strategic communications. | View webpage |
| Responding to the Climate Crisis: Applying Behavioural Science (Behavioural Science Unit) | Behavioural Science Unit | A guide designed to support policy makers and professionals use behaviour science to create effective interventions to respond to the climate crisis | View resource |
| The 7 GRAPHIC Principles of Public Health Infographic Design | Dr Catherine Stones & Dr Mike Gent | A guideline for any organisation or designer who needs to design or commission public health infographics for the general public | View resource |
| The Behaviour Change Wheel | Susan Michie, Lou Atkins, Robert West | A guide to designing behaviour change interventions and policies, synthesising 19 behaviour change frameworks. | View webpage |
| The Principles of Behaviour Change Communications | Cabinet Office | This guide explains how government communicators can use a behavioural approach to design and implement effective communications campaigns | View webpage |
| The TAP Quick Guide: A Practical Handbook for Implementing Tailoring Antimicrobial Resistance Programmes | World Health Organisation | This Tailoring Antimicrobial Resistance Programmes (TAP) Quick Guide has been developed to address the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The TAP Quick Guide is designed to identify appropriate and feasible interventions using a behavioural insights approach. | View webpage |
| Theory and Techniques Tool | UCL Centre for Behaviour Change | An interactive resource to understand the links between behaviour change techniques (BCTs) and their mechanisms of action (MoAs). | View webpage |
| WISER: A Framework for Improving Government Forms | Behavioural Economics Team, Australian Government | Factors to consider when putting together organisational forms | View resource |