Behavior Change Wheel

Developed by Susan Michie, Maartje M. van Stralen, and Robert West (The Behaviour Change Wheel, 2011), and set out as a guide with Lou Atkins (2014).

Diagnoses a behavior problem as a gap in capability, opportunity, or motivation, then links that gap to the intervention types and policy levers able to close it.

When to reach for it

Programs that depend on people changing what they do, where the plan jumps to training or incentives without diagnosing what is in the way.

How it runs

1. Define the target behavior precisely.
2. Find whether capability, opportunity, or motivation is lacking.
3. Match the gap to intervention types, such as training or restructuring.
4. Choose the policy levers that can deliver them.
5. Design the specific intervention, then evaluate it the same way.

Where it sits in SOLVE eX

• 6.1 Designing and Testing the Solution
• 4.1 Root Causes and the Case for Going Back

Go to the source

• The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions, Implementation Science, 2011
• The Behaviour Change Wheel: A Guide to Designing Interventions, 2014