Behavioural Science Unit publications
Our publications include a range of practical tools and guides to help you apply behavioural science at every stage of your work. We have also produced reports and infographics on the work of the unit, as well as on a number of different topics where behavioural science can be applied.
Our publications:
Improving health and wellbeing: A guide to using behavioural science in practice
A guide for practitioners and policy makers explaining how behavioural science can be used and applied in practice.
Responding to the climate crisis: Applying behavioural science
A guide designed to support policy makers and professionals use behaviour science to create effective interventions to respond to the climate crisis.
Developing behaviourally informed communications
An interactive tool to help you take a behaviourally informed approach when designing your communications.
Cost of living crisis in Wales: Applying Behavioural Science
An infographic explaining how COM-B can be used to increase access to services.
Deciding on a target behaviour and target population tool
A practical, interactive tool to help you consider and define your target behaviour and target population, as you create a ‘behavioural specification’.
Behavioural Diagnosis: How to collect behavioural insights
A practical, interactive tool to help you develop a systematic understanding of the influences of your target behaviour, in your target population.
Behavioural Diagnosis: Mapping insights and selecting intervention functions
A practical, interactive tool to help you consider which implementation functions may be the most appropriate for delivering your chosen intervention
Behavioural Diagnosis: Selecting implementation types
A practical, interactive tool to help you consider which implementation types may be the most appropriate for delivering your chosen intervention.
Identifying and applying behaviour change techniques
A practical, interactive tool that introduces Behaviour Change Techniques, considered to be the ‘active ingredients’ of behaviour change interventions. The tool walks you through how to identify and deliver Behaviour Change Techniques, drawing on the COM-B model and Behaviour Change Wheel.
Evaluating behaviour change interventions
Written in collaboration with the Central Evaluation Team and Public Health Wales, this is a practical and interactive tool that identifies key points to take into consideration when you’re planning how to test and evaluate your behaviour change intervention.
Using behavioural science to improve and protect health in Wales
This tool is designed to capture case studies of how behavioural science has been used to optimise that impact.
Behaviourally Informed Communications Initiative (BICI): Workbook
This interactive workbook builds on the ‘SCALE’ framework, first introduced by the Behavioural Science Unit in 2023. The workbook includes a number of activities, designed to help guide you through the process of developing a piece of communication using behavioural science.
Behaviourally Informed Communications Initiative (BICI): Case studies
The Behaviourally Informed Communications Initiative (BICI) first launched in 2024, with 30+ attendees from a range of different teams bringing a piece of communication to optimise using behavioural science. This collection of case studies helps to outline the real-world application of BICI – including work from screening teams, vaccination teams, as well as Greener Primary Care and Primary Care.
Behavioural science in policy and practice: Household recycling
In order to effectively change climate-related behaviours, we must be clear and specific about the behaviour that we’re hoping to change, understand the barrier(s) and/or facilitator(s) to the target behaviour, and implement a broad range of interventions to address and/or enhance the identified barrier(s) and/or facilitator(s). Using household recycling as an example, the purpose of this case study is to show how applying behavioural science can help to identify and implement a range of different intervention types that can help to effectively address behavioural determinants and influence behaviour.
Behavioural science for better health: How are we doing in Public Health Wales?
An Infographic summarising the evaluation and reporting of our progress across five World Health Organisation ‘Strategic Commitment’ areas, for working towards the routine application of behavioural science for better health in Wales.
BSU report: Exploring factors influencing the application of behavioural science within public health practice across Wales
A report into the exploration of factors influencing the application of behavioural science within public health practice across Wales.
BSU report: Public Health Wales Behavioural Science Unit’s impact across the public health system: A realist ripple effects mapping evaluation
This report highlights key themes to progress including relationship-building, capability development, and the practical application of behavioural science in policy and practice. As a crucial approach to improving health outcomes and reducing inequalities, behavioural science can help optimise policy, services and communications to support delivery of the Public Health Wales Long Term Strategy. This realist ripple effects evaluation provides key recommendations to drive continued impact.
BSU report: Behaviourally Informed Communications Initiative (BICI)
The Behaviourally Informed Communications Initiative launched in June 2024, with over 35 stakeholders from a range of different teams brining a piece of communication to optimise by applying behavioural science. This report includes information about how the initiative was developed and delivered, including process evaluation insight from cohort attendees and two case studies.
Better health through behavioural science: An enabling plan for Wales
This plan describes a route map of important actions that can secure the conditions to enable the more routine and systematic use of behavioural science in services, improvement and innovation, communications, policy and systems approaches that that are aiming for better health and wellbeing. Developed with a technical and strategic advisory group, and input from our Behavioural Science Community for Wales, the plan draws on regional and international approaches to behavioural science application in health and wellbeing, and describes how, through applying behavioural science in our work, we can get what we aim for more often, and in doing so realise a behavioural dividend that optimises our impact for better health and equity.