ArticleImplementation science : IS2018
Are healthcare professionals delivering opportunistic behaviour change interventions? A multi-professional survey of engagement with public health policy.
Article in Implementation science : IS, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Behaviorally Informed Interventions to Promote Activity in the Home and Community for Adults With Neurological Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Physical therapy · 2025Pooled it
- When primary care providers and smokers meet: a systematic review and metasynthesis.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Physical Activity Promotion: A Systematic Review of The Perceptions of Healthcare Professionals.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Delivering Opportunistic Behavior Change Interventions: a Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Making every contact count for adult patients in healthcare settings: a scoping review of implementation contexts, methods, and levels of evidence.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Global health worker visit time variation: A systematic review.Health policy OPEN · 2026Article
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- A multicentric intervention based on nudging for the reduction of potentially unnecessary laboratory tests: insights from a Swiss hospital network.BMC health services research · 2025Observational
- Oral Health Inequities: Using Every Opportunity for Opportunistic Oral Healthcare.Journal of paediatrics and child health · 2025Article
- Physical Therapists' Use of Behavior Change Strategies to Promote Physical Activity for Individuals with Neurological Conditions.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Health and social care professionals' awareness and implementation of NICE guidelines on self-harm: a rapid review of the literature.BMJ open · 2025Review
- A qualitative exploration of service users' experiences of weight management conversations in a mental health setting.PEC innovation · 2025Article
- Cameroonian Physiotherapists' Practice, Confidence, and Perception of Health Promotion for People at Risk or with Cardiovascular Diseases: A Qualitative Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- A survey of NHS nurses' delivery of treatments to prevent recurrence of venous leg ulcers.International wound journal · 2025Article
- Assessing fidelity of design and training of Making Every Contact Count (MECC) in a mental health inpatient setting.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Perceptions of Family Physicians About Applying AI in Primary Health Care: Case Study From a Premier Health Care Organization.JMIR AI · 2024Article
- Impacts of the COVID-19 public health emergency on healthcare professional delivery of opportunistic behaviour change interventions: a retrospective cohort study.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Training Australian Dietitians in Behavior Change Techniques Through Educational Workshops: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background"Making Every Contact Count" (MECC), a public health policy in the UK, compels healthcare professionals to deliver opportunistic health behaviour change interventions to patients during routine medical consultations. Professionals' awareness of, and engagement with, the policy is unclear. This study examined (1) awareness of the MECC policy, and (2) the prevalence of MECC-related practice in relation to (a) perceived patient benefit, (b) how often healthcare professionals deliver interventions during routine consultations, and (c) the time spent on this activity.
methodsCross-sectional national survey was administered in 2017 of 1387 healthcare professionals working in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). Descriptive statistics were used to assess awareness and practice consistent with the MECC policy. Chi-square was used to gauge the potential representativeness of our sample compared to NHS employment data.
results31.4% of healthcare professionals reported having heard of the policy; nevertheless, healthcare professionals perceived a need to provide patients with opportunistic behaviour change interventions in 55.9% (32,946/58,906) of consultations. However, healthcare professionals did not deliver interventions on 50.0% of occasions in which they perceived a need. Where behaviour change interventions were delivered to patients, this constituted 35.3% of the appointment time.
conclusionsPolicy makers must address the gap between the proportion of patients that healthcare professionals perceive would benefit from opportunistic behaviour change interventions and those receiving them (an estimated 50.0%; 16,473 additional patients could have benefited). Future research should consider how healthcare professionals identify patients who might benefit from opportunistic behaviour change interventions and developing training for efficient delivery of interventions.
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