Specifying and reporting complex behaviour change interventions: the need for a scientific method | Implementation Science BioMed Central Open Access Specifying and reporting complex behaviour change interventions the need for a scientific method Susan Michie 1 Dean Fixsen2 Jeremy M Grimshaw3 and Martin P Eccles4 Address 1Centre for Outcomes Research and Effectiveness Department of Clinical Educational and Health Psychology University College London 1-19 Torrington Place London WC1E 7HB UK 2FPG Child Development Institute University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 517 S Greensboro Street Carrboro NC 27510 USA 3Clinical Epidemiology Program Ottawa Health Research Institute 1053 Carling Avenue Room 2017 Admin Building University of Ottawa Ottawa ON K1N 6N5 Canada and institute of Health and Society Newcastle University 21 Claremont Place Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AA UK Email Susan Michie - Dean Fixsen - fixsen@ Jeremy M Grimshaw - jgrimshaw@ Martin P Eccles - Corresponding author Published 16 July 2009 Received 17 February 2009 Implementation Science 2009 4 40 doi 1748-5908-4-40 Accepted 16 July 2009 This article is available from http content 4 1 40 2009 Michie et al licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http licenses by which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Complex behaviour change interventions are not well described when they are described the terminology used is inconsistent. This constrains scientific replication and limits the subsequent introduction of successful interventions. Implementation Science is introducing a policy of initially encouraging and subsequently requiring the scientific reporting of complex behaviour change interventions. The current state of affairs Progress in tackling today s major health and healthcare problems requires changes
