Now that we understand how to define a behaviour in your practice, you might be thinking about the role of capability, opportunity, and motivation in behaviours. These influences may have a large or small role in the behaviours evident in your workplace. Some may be more relevant than others. They may also represent some of the barriers to behaviour change. These influences are all worth thinking about when we work towards designing an intervention to promote behaviour change.
Think about what might be relevant in your context:
It is important to keep in mind that behaviour change and behaviour change intervention projects vary widely in size and complexity; they don’t have to be huge or of high consequence. For example, projects vary from changing government policy and guidelines (psychological capability) to placing the medication chart in a more accessible place (physical opportunity).
All behaviour change projects are important and worthwhile, so long as they work toward improving healthcare practice. The important part is to ensure your team are involved, know the vision for change and are on board with a decision to implement these changes.
We will now introduce the second case study in this module, click on the drop down below labelled 'Case study II' to read through it.
Case Study II
Read through the scenario below and using what you’ve learnt from this course so far, think about the questions posed.
You are a healthcare professional in a clinic in a low resource rural area, where stock deliveries for medical supplies are infrequent. Internet connectivity is intermittent, and there is a general lack of access to resources. Many of the doctors working in your setting have been trained overseas. These doctors often practice out of date practices, and this has continued for many years. In addition, the pharmacist is often very busy due to the lack of other staff.
As a healthcare professional, you want to change prescribing practice to match up-to-date local government guidelines.
- What might be some of the influences regarding this behaviour? (Think about the COM-B model)
- What might be some of the barriers to changing this behaviour?