The Determinants of Health Behaviour

Significant areas of our health are influenced by our behaviour and the behaviours that we display are, in turn, influenced by a number of factors or determinants. Personal behaviours take place in the context of the environment in which we have been conditioned and in that which we undertake the behaviour in question.

In order to support behavioral choices that will lead to better health in the future, we need to have a good idea of what those behaviours are, but also what determines or precedes the behaviour itself. For example, a woman that believes that regular walking will be good for health is more likely to undertake regular exercise than a woman that does not have this outcome expectation.

The resources on this page summarise the findings of a number of key reviews of the determinants of health behaviour and is intended to help plan the contents of behaviour change interventions.

Back to Main "Health Behaviour Change" page Click here for more on The Commercial Determinants of Health

References and Further Reading

Bartholomew Eldredge, L. K. B., Markham, C. M., Kok, G., Ruiter, R. A., & Parcel, G. S. (2016). Planning health promotion programs: an intervention mapping approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Cane, J., O’Connor, D., & Michie, S. (2012). Validation of the theoretical domains framework for use in behaviour change and implementation research. Implementation Science, 7(1), 1. http://implementationscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1748-5908-7-37

Committee on Communication for Behavior Change in the 21st Century, & Improving the Health of Diverse Populations. (2002). Speaking of health: Assessing health communication strategies for diverse populations. National Academy Press.

Davis, R., Campbell, R., Hildon, Z., Hobbs, L., & Michie, S. (2015). Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review. Health psychology review, 9(3), 323-344.http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17437199.2014.941722

Fishbein, M., Triandis, H. C., Kanfer, F. H., Becker, M., & Middlestadt, S. E. (2001). Factors influencing behavior and behavior change. In: Handbook of Health Psychology, edited by A.S. Baum, T.A. Revenson, and J.E. Singer. Mahwah, New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000. 1-17.

Kwasnicka, D., Dombrowski, S. U., White, M., & Sniehotta, F. (2016). Theoretical explanations for maintenance of behaviour change: a systematic review of behaviour theories. Health psychology review, 1-20. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17437199.2016.1151372

Michie, S., van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011). The behaviour change wheel: a new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation Science, 6(1), 1. https://implementationscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1748-5908-6-42

Michie, S., Johnston, M., Abraham, C., Lawton, R., Parker, D., & Walker, A. (2005). Making psychological theory useful for implementing evidence based practice: a consensus approach. Quality and safety in health care, 14(1), 26-33. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1743963/pdf/v014p00026.pdf

Prestwich, A., Sniehotta, F. F., Whittington, C., Dombrowski, S. U., Rogers, L., & Michie, S. (2014). Does theory influence the effectiveness of health behavior interventions? Meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 33(5), 465.

Determinants of Physical Activity and Dietary Behaviour

(taken from the DEDIPAC project; Brug, J., van der Ploeg, H. P., Loyen, A., Ahrens, W., Allais, O., Andersen, L. F., ... & De Craemer, M. (2017). Determinants of diet and physical activity (DEDIPAC): a summary of findings. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1), 150.)

Symmank C, et al. Predictors of food decision making: a systematic interdisciplinary mapping (SIM) review. Appetite. 2017;110:25–35.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar

Condello G, et al. Behavioral determinants of physical activity across the life course: a "DEterminants of DIet and physical ACtivity" (DEDIPAC) umbrella systematic literature review. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2017;14(1):58.View ArticlePubMedPubMed CentralGoogle Scholar

Carlin A, et al. A life course examination of the physical environmental determinants of physical activity behaviour: a "determinants of diet and physical activity" (DEDIPAC) umbrella systematic literature review. PLoS One. 2017;12(8):e0182083.View ArticlePubMedPubMed CentralGoogle Scholar

Cortis C, et al. Psychological determinants of physical activity across the life course: a "DEterminants of DIet and physical ACtivity" (DEDIPAC) umbrella systematic literature review. PLoS One. 2017;12(8):e0182709.View ArticlePubMedPubMed CentralGoogle Scholar

Puggina A, et al. Policy determinants of physical activity across the life course: a "DEDIPAC" umbrella systematic literature review. Eur J Pub Health. 2017 https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/28/1/105/4557560

Stierlin AS, et al. A systematic review of determinants of sedentary behaviour in youth: a DEDIPAC-study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2015;12:133.View ArticlePubMedPubMed CentralGoogle Scholar

O'Donoghue G, et al. A systematic review of correlates of sedentary behaviour in adults aged 18-65 years: a socio-ecological approach. BMC Public Health. 2016;16(1):163.View ArticlePubMedPubMed CentralGoogle Scholar

Chastin SF, et al. Systematic literature review of determinants of sedentary behaviour in older adults: a DEDIPAC study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2015;12:127.View ArticlePubMedPubMed CentralGoogle Scholar

Osei-Kwasi HA, et al. Systematic mapping review of the factors influencing dietary behaviour in ethnic minority groups living in Europe: a DEDIPAC study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2016;13:85.View ArticlePubMedPubMed CentralGoogle Scholar

Langoien LJ, et al. Systematic mapping review of the factors influencing physical activity and sedentary behaviour in ethnic minority groups in Europe: a DEDIPAC study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2017;14(1):99.

Back to Main "Health Behaviour Change" page

The Wider Determinants

Dahlgren, G., & Whitehead, M. (2021). The Dahlgren-Whitehead model of health determinants: 30 years on and still chasing rainbows. Public Health, 199, 20-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2021.08.009

See Behaviour Change Theories