Theories of Behavior Change and Behavior Researcher Surveys: Methods Copy Resource Link Link copied to clipboard

HARC is building a standard framework and language – the Precision Paradigm – to promote cross-model, precision home visiting research. The framework focuses on the interventions within home visiting and includes the mediators and moderators of intervention effects. Our foundation is the work of Michie and colleagues and we are using input from those with an interest in home visiting to specify details of the Paradigm to make sure it is useful and relevant. One such group, and the focus of this brief, is intervention researchers.

A defining purpose of research is to create generalizable knowledge. Many interventions within home visiting aim to promote or reduce specific behaviors. For these interventions, this means grounding intervention design and research in theories of behavior and behavior change. HARC is developing resources to support the use of relevant, high-quality theories.

This brief details the methods we used to identify theories from the literature and construct two surveys to elicit input from intervention researchers to inform HARC resources.