Once one has decided on one or more target behaviours, population(s) and (where appropriate, setting(s), intervention development involves:
- Identifying Behaviour Change Techniques (BCTs) to include in the intervention,
- Deciding on a) mode(s) of delivery, b) schedule(s) of delivery, and often c) intervention source, d) style of delivery and e) tailoring, and
- Fleshing out the details of the intervention content and delivery.
To identify the BCTs in Step 1 above, you can use the Theory And Techniques (TAT) Tool to find 'best bets' for BCTs that will target particular mechanisms of action. The TAT tool is based on the BCT Taxonomy v1 but this can be mapped onto the BCT Ontology that is part of the BCIO.
You can use BCIO Search then to identify details of intervention delivery as set out in Step 2 above.
The Paper Authoring Tool (PAT) has a module specifically for describing interventions and assigning ontology entities to features of the interventions. It has the advantage of providing detailed prompts to ensure that everything is included that needs to be.
