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Marques, M.M. orcid.org/0000-0002-4797-9557, Wright, A.J. orcid.org/0000-0002-0373-5219, Corker, E. orcid.org/0000-0002-2055-7493 et al. (5 more authors) (2024) The behaviour change technique ontology: transforming the behaviour change technique taxonomy v1 [version 2; peer review: 4 approved]. Wellcome Open Research, 8. 308. ISSN 2398-502X
Abstract
Background
The Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy v1 (BCTTv1) specifies the potentially active content of behaviour change interventions. Evaluation of BCTTv1 showed the need to extend it into a formal ontology, improve its labels and definitions, add BCTs and subdivide existing BCTs. We aimed to develop a Behaviour Change Technique Ontology (BCTO) that would meet these needs.
Methods
The BCTO was developed by: (1) collating and synthesising feedback from multiple sources; (2) extracting information from published studies and classification systems; (3) multiple iterations of reviewing and refining entities, and their labels, definitions and relationships; (4) refining the ontology via expert stakeholder review of its comprehensiveness and clarity; (5) testing whether researchers could reliably apply the ontology to identify BCTs in intervention reports; and (6) making it available online and creating a computer-readable version.
Results
Initially there were 282 proposed changes to BCTTv1. Following first-round review, 19 BCTs were split into two or more BCTs, 27 new BCTs were added and 26 BCTs were moved into a different group, giving 161 BCTs hierarchically organised into 12 logically defined higher-level groups in up to five hierarchical levels. Following expert stakeholder review, the refined ontology had 247 BCTs hierarchically organised into 20 higher-level groups. Independent annotations of intervention evaluation reports by researchers familiar and unfamiliar with the ontology resulted in good levels of inter-rater reliability (0.82 and 0.79, respectively). Following revision informed by this exercise, 34 BCTs were added, resulting in the first published version of the BCTO containing 281 BCTs organised into 20 higher-level groups over five hierarchical levels.
Discussion
The BCTO provides a standard terminology and comprehensive classification system for the content of behaviour change interventions that can be reliably used to describe interventions. The development and maintenance of an ontology is an iterative and ongoing process; no ontology is ever ‘finished’. The BCTO will continue to evolve and grow (e.g. new BCTs or improved definitions) as a result of user feedback and new available evidence.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 Marques MM et al. This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | behaviour change techniques; ontology; user feedback; intervention reporting |
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: | 30 Jan 2025 08:54 |
Last Modified: | 12 Feb 2025 12:40 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | F1000 Research Ltd |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.19363.2 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:222398 |
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The behaviour change technique ontology: transforming the behaviour change technique taxonomy v1 [version 1; peer review: 4 approved]. (deposited 27 Nov 2023 16:09)
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