Wright, A.J., Zhang, L. orcid.org/0000-0002-4255-9609, Howes, E. et al. (6 more authors) (2023) Specifying how intervention content is communicated: development of a style of delivery ontology [version 1; peer review: 1 approved]. Wellcome Open Research, 8. 456. pp. 1-22. ISSN 2398-502X
Abstract
Background
Investigating and enhancing the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions requires detailed and consistent specification of all aspects of interventions. We need to understand not only their content, that is the specific techniques, but also the source, mode, schedule, and style in which this content is delivered. Delivery style refers to the manner by which content is communicated to intervention participants. This paper reports the development of an ontology for specifying the style of delivery of interventions that depend on communication. This forms part of the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology, which aims to cover all aspects of behaviour change intervention scenarios.
Methods
The Style of Delivery Ontology was developed following methods for ontology development used in the Human Behaviour-Change Project, with seven key steps: 1) defining the scope of the ontology, 2) identifying key entities and developing their preliminary definitions by reviewing 100 behaviour change intervention evaluation reports and existing classification systems, 3) refining the ontology by piloting the ontology through annotations of 100 reports, 4) stakeholder review by eight behavioural science and public health experts, 5) inter-rater reliability testing through annotating 100 reports using the ontology, 6) specifying ontological relationships between entities, and 7) disseminating and maintaining the ontology.
Results
The resulting ontology is a five-level hierarchical structure comprising 145 unique entities relevant to style of delivery. Key areas include communication processes, communication styles, and attributes of objects used in communication processes. Inter-rater reliability for annotating intervention evaluation reports was α=0.77 (good) for those familiar with the ontology and α=0.62 (acceptable) for those unfamiliar with it.
Conclusions
The Style of Delivery Ontology can be used for both annotating and describing behaviour change interventions in a consistent and coherent manner, thereby improving evidence comparison, synthesis, replication, and implementation of effective interventions.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 Wright AJ et al. This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | ontology; intervention delivery; style of delivery; behaviour change; communication; communication style; intervention reporting; evidence synthesis |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 26 Mar 2024 09:47 |
Last Modified: | 26 Mar 2024 09:47 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | F1000 Research Ltd |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.19899.1 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:210672 |
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