ArticleBehavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2021
Studying Behaviour Change Mechanisms under Complexity.
Article in Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evaluating the Let's Move It intervention programme theory for adolescents' physical activity: Theorized psychosocial mechanisms of behavioural changes.British journal of health psychology · 2025Trial
- Impact of warm mindfulness on emotion regulation: A randomized controlled effectiveness trial.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2023Trial
- Motivational profiles and change in physical activity during a weight loss intervention: a secondary data analysis.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2021Trial
- Characterizing and predicting person-specific, day-to-day, fluctuations in walking behavior.PloS one · 2021Trial
- How can we change behavior to bolster biosecurity? A scoping review and recommendations.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Review
- Applying behaviour change science to change motivational interaction in physical activity and sports professionals: stepwise development and acceptability pre-test of the MotiStyleSport intervention.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2026Article
- Patient pathways to PrEP persistence: a qualitative resilience-focused journey mapping study with cisgender Black and Latino men who have sex with men and clinical PrEP staff at a federally qualified health center.Frontiers in health services · 2026Article
- Using Mobile Assessments to Characterize Mental and Physical Health Behaviors in Youth: Protocol for a Pilot Intensive Longitudinal Study.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- A complex systems view on physical activity with actionable insights for behaviour change.Nature human behaviour · 2025Review
- Precision in Brief: The Bayesian Hurst-Kolmogorov Method for the Assessment of Long-Range Temporal Correlations in Short Behavioral Time Series.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Applications of Behavioral Change Theories and Models in Health Promotion Interventions: A Rapid Review.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- How to develop causal directed acyclic graphs for observational health research: a scoping review.Health psychology review · 2025Article
- Personalized interventions for behaviour change: A scoping review of just-in-time adaptive interventions.British journal of health psychology · 2025Article
- Feasibility and potential effect of a pilot blended digital behavior change intervention promoting sustainable diets over a year.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Reorienting psychological science.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Article
- What Is Behavioral Complexity? Lay Perceptions of Characteristics of Complex Behavior.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The Impact of a Gamified Intervention on Daily Steps in Real-Life Conditions: Retrospective Analysis of 4800 Individuals.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Behavioral change interventions, theories, and techniques to reduce physical inactivity and sedentary behavior in the general population: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2024Article
- How do behavioral public policy experts see the role of complex systems perspectives? An expert interview study.Translational behavioral medicine · 2024Article
- The Digital Therapeutics Real-World Evidence Framework: An Approach for Guiding Evidence-Based Digital Therapeutics Design, Development, Testing, and Monitoring.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms underlying the effects of behaviour change interventions is vital for accumulating valid scientific evidence, and useful to informing practice and policy-making across multiple domains. Traditional approaches to such evaluations have applied study designs and statistical models, which implicitly assume that change is linear, constant and caused by independent influences on behaviour (such as behaviour change techniques). This article illustrates limitations of these standard tools, and considers the benefits of adopting a complex adaptive systems approach to behaviour change research. It (1) outlines the complexity of behaviours and behaviour change interventions; (2) introduces readers to some key features of complex systems and how these relate to human behaviour change; and (3) provides suggestions for how researchers can better account for implications of complexity in analysing change mechanisms. We focus on three common features of complex systems (i.e., interconnectedness, non-ergodicity and non-linearity), and introduce Recurrence Analysis, a method for non-linear time series analysis which is able to quantify complex dynamics. The supplemental website provides exemplifying code and data for practical analysis applications. The complex adaptive systems approach can complement traditional investigations by opening up novel avenues for understanding and theorising about the dynamics of behaviour change.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.