Determinants of behaviour and behaviour change

As discussed in earlier weeks, obesity has a multifaceted etiology with a range of personal, social and environmental factors influencing eating and physical activity behaviours relevant to obesity.

Figure: Example of some environmental and behavioural determinants which can influence eating behaviours and obesity

Many different theories and models of behaviour change have been developed over the years. Most are based upon psychology and informed by economics and sociology.^4. It is not important to have an in-depth understanding of all the different behaviour change models – and indeed there are over 60 socio-psychological models which have been identified. However, there are several useful models and we cover two in the following sections.