7 Glossary

In the definitions in this glossary, terms that refer to concepts that are defined elsewhere in the glossary are printed in italic.

7.1 General terms from psychology

Behavior: Behavior is often defined as muscle activity. In Intervention Mapping, behavior is defined a bit more broadly and can include decisions people take. Behaviors are always processes that take place over time. Although the duration can be brief (e.g. for decisions), you can always identify a time when a behavior was not yet engaged in and a time after people have engaged in the behavior. This is very different from determinants, which describe a psychological state, not a process (although an exception is that determinants can sometimes describe the desired manner in which a psychological process should unfold).
Construct: In psychology, a construct is usually a hypothesized psychological variable or process. Construct definitions describe which aspects of human psychology comprise that construct. Some examples of psychological constructs are attitude, positive affect, working memory, extraversion, depression, stress, executive functioning, self-regulation, planning, sadness, habit, intrinsic motivation, and risk perception. Constructs are generally not natural kinds: they do not exist in the world as discrete, modular things that exist regardless of what humans think about them. Water (\(H_2O\)) is a natural kind (all molecules consisting of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom is water, and vice versa), but “attitude” does not exist independently of our definitions. Because these constructs don’t exist as such, different psychological theories often capture the same psychological aspects but ‘slice’ human psychology differently. Those aspects of human psychology corresponding to the representation of the potential negative consequences of engaging in drinking large quantities of beer are defined as part of risk perception by some theories; outcome expectation by other theories; and attitude by other theories.
Determinant: In behavior change science, a determinant (also called behavioral determinant or psycho-social determinant) is a modifiable psychological construct that is hypothesized to cause behavior (or contribute to causing behavior) by at least one theory. From this general definition, it follows that determinants can in principle describe psychological processes, but they almost always describe psychological states, or dimensions along which a set of states are organized, instead. For example, a determinant of behavior is an attitude: people can have a very positive attitude, a mildly positive attitude, or a negative attitude. This state is assumed to (partially) determine their behavior. Like constructs, determinants can be defined on a spectrum from very generic very specific. “General self-efficacy” is a very generically defined construct; self-efficacy as applied to a given target behavior is more specific; and somebody’s expectation that a certain barrier will prohibit them from engaging in a given target behavior is even more specific. All three are determinants; but along this spectrum, there is a point where determinants are so specifically defined that they become sufficiently concrete to communicate about them in an intervention, and determinants that are so specific are called subdeterminants. For example, general and specific self-efficacy are abstract, generic determinants: but the expectation that condoms can be obtained for free is very specific and concrete. The latter relates to the potential barrier that condoms are expensive, and this subdeterminant can directly inform intervention efforts.
Logic model: A logic model is a diagram that visualizes (theoretical, empirically derived, or hypothetical) relationships between concepts. Those concepts can be pretty much anything, such as constructs (e.g. attitude, intention, stress), mechanisms, processes or behaviors (e.g. goal setting, doing the dishes, buying a beer), or other aspects of the natural world (e.g. the weather, the state of the environment, whether it’s day or night). The relationships, too, can be pretty much anything, such as causal relationships (one thing causing another) or structural relationships (such as one thing being made up of other things). Some specific types of logic models exist, such as Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs; used to reason about causal inference in psychological science and other sciences), Acyclic Behavior Change Diagrams (used to represent the causal and structural assumptions underlying a behavior change intervention), the PRECEDE diagram (used to represent the results of a needs assessment), and a COMPLECS overview (also used to represent the results of a needs assessment).
Theory: A theory is an explanation of a bit of the world. Theories in the social sciences often hypothesize (and then define) one or more (e.g., psychological) constructs and then describe how they relate to each other. For example, the Intervention Mapping book lists a series of theories that explain human behavior. Theories are by definition constrained to small parts of reality. For example, the Reasoned Action Approach explicitly explains reasoned action (and so makes no effort to explain habitual behavior; note, though, that reasoned is often not rational); the Health Belief Model explains how health beliefs influence health behavior; the Common Sense Model of Illness explains hoe lay people think about illness; etc. This clear delineation is a feature of theories, not a bug - and this is why in applied research and in behavior change intervention development, it is almost always necessary to adopt an eclectic approach and combine multiple theories.

7.2 Intervention Mapping terms

Change Objective: Change Objectives are subdeterminants that have been formulated according to a specific set of guidelines. This means that they have to describe a behavior that, if the corresponding target individual performs it, provides evidence that in the target individual’s psychology, the corresponding subdeterminant has the desired state. For example, the subdeterminant “the expectation that using a condom prevents HIV”, a subdeterminant that is an instance of overarching determinant “instrumental attitude belief expectation” can be reformulated into “an adolescent explains how condom use prevents HIV”. Note that Change Objectives are representations of the corresponding subdeterminant - even though they are formulated as behaviors, the behavioral component is purely instrumental to facilitate formulating the Change Objective in a way that lends itself to measurement. Change Objectives, therefore, are psychological constructs (very specific psychological constructs, just like the subdeterminants that they express), not behaviors or performance objectives.
Environmental Agent: Environmental agents (sometimes called environmental actors) are people or groups of people that have agency over one or more environmental conditions. They are often decision makers or similarly central stakeholders, such as school or hospital boards, teachers, or nurses. Environmental agents often exist on one or several environmental levels.
Environmental Condition: An environmental condition is an aspect of the environment of the target population, of an environmental agent, or of an implementer. Environmental conditions usually describe a state of the world, for example, “condoms are freely available”, “there are many facilities for exercise”, or “sufficient healthy options are on offer in the school cafetaria”. Environmental conditions are under the control of environmental agents.
Environmental Level: An environmental level is the level at which an environmental agent exists. These levels determine which methods are available for targeting those agents. Usually, the levels that are distinguished are the individual level (i.e. not an ‘environmental’ level), the interpersonal level (e.g. peers or family), the organizational level (e.g. a hospital or school), the community level (e.g. a church or social organization), and society level (e.g. local or national government), and the global level (e.g. the WHO, the UN, etc).
Performance Objective: A performance objective is a sub-behavior. The concept is used to get more fine-grained insights into the determinants and environmental conditions that together predict a behavior. For example, if you want to promote condom use, people will have to acquire condoms, discuss condoms with their partner, and appropriately use the condoms. These three sub-behaviors have different determinants and environmental conditions, some of which more easily escape notice when not considering behavior at the more specific sub-behavior level. Performance Objectives (POs) are called Performance Objectives, because, like Change Objectives, they have been selected as objectives to intervene on (i.e. as sub-goals). In other words, a target behavior may consist of more sub-behaviors than are selected as intervention targets, and in that case there are fewer POs than sub-behaviors.

7.3 Non-IM behavior change terms

This section mostly lists additional terms related to tools created by Crutzens & Peters.

ABCD: An Acyclic Behavior Change Diagram is to step 3 of IM what a Matrix of Change Objectives is to step 2: it succinctly illustrates which
Aspect of the human psyche: An aspect of the human psyche is a raw expression of somebody’s psyche (e.g. “I really hate broccoli!” or “At that party, everybody was drinking cocktails.”). Aspects can be categorized into specific psychological constructs (e.g. into (sub)determinants). Aspects can be identified, for example, in qualitative data such as interviews transcripts, or from information provided by experts or target population members in the planning group.
COMPLECS: COMPLECS is a recursive acronym for COMPLECS Organises Multiple Players & Linked Environments using Connected Specifications. When developing a behavior change intervention, it is first necessary to obtain a comprehensive in-depth understanding of the problem. For example, the Intervention Mapping protocol dedicated the first step, the Needs Assessment, to this endeavour. In this phase, maintaining an overview can be challenging, as all the myraid aspects of reality that are, or may be, relevant are collected and related to each other.
CIBER plot: A Confidence Interval-Based Estimation of Relevance plot is a visualization to help select (sub-)determinants to intervene on. It shows two estimates that are important: each (sub-)determinant’s univariate distribution (the mean as well as individual participants’ scores) as well as each (sub-)determinant’s association to behavior or a proxy of behavior (e.g. intention or an intermediate determinant). COMPLECS was developed to help to keep an overview during this process. It allows adding new information in a piece-wise manner, and then combines everything into one visualisation.
MAP: A Map of Aspects of the Psyche (MAP) shows all psychological aspects that may cause a target behavior. It is used as a tool to produce a long-list of sub-determinants from which then change objectives are selected.
Sub-determinant: A sub-determinant is an aspect that has been categorized as a specific psychological construct (i.e. a determinant). Determinants are psychological constructs that cause behavior (as specified in at least one theory). Psychological constructs can be defined on various levels of specificity: “intelligence” or “personality” are very broadly defines constructs, whereas “attitude” is more specific, and “risk perception” even more specific. On this general-specific-dimension, there are no default or optimal levels of specificity. However, there is a point where definitions become sufficiently specific and contextually embedded that it becomes possible to express the related psychological content verbally or visually. Determinants (i.e. psychological constructs) that are defined with that level of specificity are called sub-determinants. These are important to distinguish in behavior change science and practice because behavior change interventions can never target determinants - they can only target sub-determinants, since the stimuli that form the intervention (e.g. texts, images, videos) must necessarily be concrete and specific. Therefore, a required step in intervention development is identifying the sub-determinants that need to be targeted. In Intervention Mapping, those sub-determinants that are selected as intervention targets are then formulated as Change Objectives by following a specific set of guidelines.