Table 1 Definitions and examples of intervention functions and sources of behaviour

Education

Increasing understanding or knowledge

Group patient education meetings

Persuasion

Using communication to stimulate action or induce positive or negative feelings

Using motivational interviewing to encourage medication adherence

Incentivisation

Creating an expectation of reward

Payment to complete computer-based interactive adherence programme

Coercion

Creating an expectation of punishment or cost

Punishment system for a child who does not take their medications

Training

Teaching skills

Self-management training

Restriction

Using rules to decrease the opportunity to engage in the target behaviour

Restricting biologic prescriptions to those with adequate adherence

Environmental restructuring

Changing the social or physical context

On-screen prompts to remind rheumatologist to address medication adherence with patients

Modelling

Providing an example for people to imitate or aspire to

Peer educators motivating other patients

Enablement

Increasing means or reducing barriers to increase capability or opportunity (excluding education and training or environmental restructuring)

Alarm device to remind patients to take medications

Controlled-release medications to reduce number or frequency of medications

 Capability

The individual’s psychological or physical capacity to engage in the behaviour

Psychological capability (e.g. medication knowledge)

Physical capability (e.g. medication-taking skill)

 Opportunity

Factors that lie outside the individual that prompt a behaviour or make it possible

Physical opportunity (e.g. cost of medication)

Social opportunity (e.g. societal acceptance of medication taking)

 Motivation

All the brain processes that energise and direct behaviour

Reflective motivation (e.g. analytical decision-making)

Automatic motivation (e.g. immediate emotional response to medication taking)