‘Health and Behaviour’ is a module which deals with questions which are central to understanding population health, such as ‘What is behaviour?’, ‘What are health behaviours?’, and “How do health behaviours influence health outcomes and health inequalities?”. This module will introduce theories of health behaviour change, including the behaviour change wheel and established interventions for health promotion. Methods for examining health behaviour and health behaviour change over the lifecourse will be examined. You will examine specific behaviours individually (e.g. smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, diet, sedentary behaviour) and in combination (e.g. clusters of ‘preventive’ and ‘risky’ behaviours). You will also consider how health behaviours can interact. Implications for public health will be delineated. Finally, you will have an opportunity to critically appraise theories of health behaviour with particular reference to alternative explanations, such as social determinants, cognitive abilities, health literacy, and the role of the built environment. Overall, the module aims for you to understand how health behaviour influences population health, to be able to describe the prevalence, risk factors and outcomes for key health behaviours and patterns of multiple health risk behaviours, to promote consideration of health behaviour change, and to clarify the policy relevance and responses of health behaviours.

After taking this module, you should be able to


	Describe dominant theories of health behaviour change
	
	
	Understand evidence that health behaviours influence health inequalities
	
	
	Examine the impact of individual and combined behaviours on health outcomes
	
	
	Recognize the role of health behaviours in public health policies
	
	
	Critically appraise theories of behaviour change and competing alternative explanations
	
This is an intermediate module for Year 2 students on the BSc Population Health Sciences programme, running in Term 2. There is availability for UCL elective students from other departments. Places are allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis on Portico when the module selection opens. Spaces are limited.

You will attend weekly lectures and seminars.

Module Leads are Dr Abi Fisher and Dr Phillippa Lally

Selected Reading List


	Abraham, C., & Michie, S. (2008). A taxonomy of behavior change techniques used in interventions. Health Psychology, 27(3), 379–387.
	
	
	Davis, R., Campbell, R., Hildon, Z., Hobbs, L., & Michie, S. (2014). Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review. Health Psychology Review, (ahead-of-print), 1-22.
	
	
	Department of Health. (2004). Choosing health: Making healthy choices easier.
	
	
	Michie, S., van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011). The behaviour change wheel: a new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation Science, 6(1), 42.
	
	
	Moss, A. C., & Albery, I. P. (2009). A dual-process model of the alcohol–behavior link for social drinking. Psychological Bulletin, 135(4), 516.
	
	
	Sniehotta, F. F., Scholz, U., & Schwarzer, R. (2005). Bridging the intention–behaviour gap: Planning, self-efficacy, and action control in the adoption and maintenance of physical exercise. Psychology & Health, 20(2), 143-160.
	
	
	Webb, T. L., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Does changing behavioral intentions engender behavior change? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 132(2), 249.
	
	
	World Health Report (2002) - Available from http://www.who.int/whr/2002/en/