Foundational knowledge - Contemporary Behavior Change Theories

Fogg Behavior Model is based on three dimensions that converge to prompt behavior change: motivation, abilities and prompts (Fogg, 2021).

1. Motivation refers to structures that facilitate behavior change, such as sensation (pleasure vs pain), anticipation (hope vs fear), and belonging (social acceptance vs rejection) (Fogg, 2021).
2. Abilities refer to both the person’s skills and resources and the difficulty of the behavior. It is dependent upon time, money, physical effort, brain cycles (how mentally taxing a behavior is), social deviance (how socially acceptable a behavior is), and non-routine (routine behaviors are easier to perform) (Fogg, 2021).
3. Prompts refer to the constructs people need to make the behavior. They should be applied at the right time, such that the person has both motivation and ability present when the prompt occurs (Fogg, 2021).

Source: Fogg, BJ. The Fogg Behavior Model. 2018. Available from: http://www.behaviormodel.org/

Fogg Behavior Model was successfully used for mHealth interventions on dietary change and physical activity (Rabbi et al., 2015), preventing obesity (Militello et al., 2016), cervical screen cancer (Lee et al., 2014), and preventing the spread of COVID-19 (Alrige et al., 2021).