Making good quality care habitual

Groups related to this event

Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science

Event date

Thursday, 15 December 2016

Speaker

Sebastian Potthoff, Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University

Abstract

Translating evidence-based guidance into improved care in routine practice involves healthcare professionals adopting new, and changing existing, behaviours. Research has demonstrated that changing healthcare professionals’ behaviour is difficult, especially if it involves changing existing routinized ways of providing care. Theories in improvement science typically assume that healthcare professionals’ behaviour is a result of a reflective decision-making process [1], but there is a growing interest in the role that implicit processes such as habit have on behaviour [2, 3].

This presentation will explore how a dual process perspective of healthcare professional behaviour can inform the development and evaluation of interventions that aim to assist healthcare professionals with behaviour change. We will present the results from a systematic review and meta-analysis examining the strength of association between habit and healthcare professional behaviour [4]. Next, we will examine the evidence of a large secondary analysis demonstrating the potential of two behaviour change strategies (i.e., action and coping planning) for supporting habit change [5]. Lastly, we will present the results of a qualitative evaluation, which applied a dual process framework to understanding the implementation of a national ‘information prescription’ for diabetes [6].

Speaker profile

Sebastian is a third year Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University. After completing his Research Master in Clinical and Health Psychology at Leiden University (Netherlands) in 2013, he moved to Newcastle where he was awarded a Health Foundation Improvement Science Fellowship.

His PhD focuses on applying theories from health psychology and behavioural medicine to develop and evaluate interventions that support healthcare professionals with changing their behaviour. He is particularly interested in whether simple behaviour change strategies (e.g. implementation intentions) are effective in assisting healthcare professionals with creating and breaking habits.

Seminar details

Date: Thursday 15th December, 2016

Time: 12pm – 1pm

Location: Seminar room, Level 1, 75 Talavera Road, Macquarie University

Chairperson: Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite, Founding Director AIHI, Director, Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science.

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References

1. Godin G, Bélanger-Gravel A, Eccles MP, Grimshaw J. Healthcare professionals' intentions and behaviours: A systematic review of studies based on social cognitive theories. Implementation Science. 2008;3(1):1.
2. Presseau J, Johnston M, Heponiemi T, Elovainio M, Francis JJ, Eccles MP et al. Reflective and automatic processes in health care professional behaviour: a dual process model tested across multiple behaviours. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2014;48(3):347-58.
3. Nilsen P, Roback K, Broström A, Ellström P-E. Creatures of habit: accounting for the role of habit in implementation research on clinical behaviour change. Implementation Science. 2012;7(1):1.
4. Potthoff S, Rasul O, Sniehotta FF, Beyer FR, Bryant A, Thomson R et al. A systematic review assessing the relationship between habit and healthcare professional behaviour in clinical practice.  International Congress of Behavioural Medicine; 7-10 December; Melbourne, 2016.
5. Potthoff S, Presseau J, Sniehotta FF, Elovainio M, Avery L. Planning to be routine: automaticity as a mediator of the planning behaviour relationship in healthcare professionals.  Conference of the European Health Psychology Society; 1-5 September; Limassol, 2015.
6. Potthoff S, Presseau J, Sniehotta FF, Breckons M, Rylance A, Avery L. The impact of dual processes and competing goals on health professionals' uptake of a new information prescription for diabetes. International Congress of Behavioural Medicine; 7-10 December; Melbourne, 2016