ArticleWellcome open research2023
The Behaviour Change Technique Ontology: Transforming the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy v1.
Article in Wellcome open research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 125 papers, 19 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
125 citing papers in PubMed, 19 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Key targets for activating anaesthesia shared decision-making: a mixed methods systematic review.Anaesthesia · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of activity pacing-related interventions on cancer-related fatigue and classification of behavior change techniques: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Pooled it
- Interventions to enhance work participation in people with chronic pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis including analysis of complex psychological intervention components.British journal of health psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Identifying effective behavior change techniques in interventions for enhancing the implementation of school-based policies and/or practices to prevent chronic disease in students: a secondary analysis of a systematic review.Translational behavioral medicine · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis to identify behavioural content and active ingredients of antimicrobial stewardship education and training interventions in hospital-based care settings.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions to improve hand hygiene in community settings: a systematic review of theories, barriers and enablers, behaviour change techniques and hand hygiene station design features.BMJ global health · 2025Pooled it
- Identifying behaviour change techniques in school-based childhood obesity prevention interventions: a secondary analysis of a systematic review.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Behavior change techniques in low-calorie and very low-calorie diet interventions for weight loss: A systematic review with meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Pooled it
- Behaviour change interventions to promote physical activity in people with intermittent claudication: the OPTIMA systematic review.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Behavioural components and delivery features of early childhood obesity prevention interventions: intervention coding of studies in the TOPCHILD Collaboration systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Pooled it
- Understanding the mechanisms of change in social norms around tobacco use: A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Emotional Eating Interventions for Adults Living With Overweight and Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Behaviour Change Techniques.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025Pooled it
- Systematically analyzing behavior change techniques used in 44 interventions to reduce unprofessional behavior between healthcare staff.Translational behavioral medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Understanding the Components of Eating Behaviour-Focused Weight Management Interventions Adjunct to Metabolic Bariatric Surgery: Systematic Review of Published Literature.Current obesity reports · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Behavior Change Techniques Within Digital Interventions for the Treatment of Eating Disorders: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JMIR mental health · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review of experimentally tested implementation strategies across health and human service settings: evidence from 2010-2022.Implementation science : IS · 2024Pooled it
- Efficacy of interventions and techniques on adherence to physiotherapy in adults: an overview of systematic reviews and panoramic meta-analysis.Systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Promoting Self-Regulated Social Media Use on Smartphones With a Mobile Intervention App (Wellspent): Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Trial
65 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Background: The Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy v1 (BCTTv1) specifies the potentially active content of behaviour change interventions. Evaluation of BCTTv1 showed the need to extend it into a formal ontology, improve its labels and definitions, add BCTs and subdivide existing BCTs. We aimed to develop a Behaviour Change Technique Ontology (BCTO) that would meet these needs. Methods: The BCTO was developed by: (1) collating and synthesising feedback from multiple sources; (2) extracting information from published studies and classification systems; (3) multiple iterations of reviewing and refining entities, and their labels, definitions and relationships; (4) refining the ontology via expert stakeholder review of its comprehensiveness and clarity; (5) testing whether researchers could reliably apply the ontology to identify BCTs in intervention reports; and (6) making it available online and creating a computer-readable version. Results: Initially there were 282 proposed changes to BCTTv1. Following first-round review, 19 BCTs were split into two or more BCTs, 27 new BCTs were added and 26 BCTs were moved into a different group, giving 161 BCTs hierarchically organised into 12 logically defined higher-level groups in up to five hierarchical levels. Following expert stakeholder review, the refined ontology had 247 BCTs hierarchically organised into 20 higher-level groups. Independent annotations of intervention evaluation reports by researchers familiar and unfamiliar with the ontology resulted in good levels of inter-rater reliability (0.82 and 0.79, respectively). Following revision informed by this exercise, 34 BCTs were added, resulting in the first published version of the BCTO containing 281 BCTs organised into 20 higher-level groups over five hierarchical levels. Discussion: The BCTO provides a standard terminology and comprehensive classification system for the content of behaviour change interventions that can be reliably used to describe interventions. The development and maintenance of an ontology is an iterative and ongoing process; no ontology is ever 'finished'. The BCTO will continue to evolve and grow (e.g. new BCTs or improved definitions) as a result of user feedback and new available evidence.
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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.