Public Health Wales announce new behavioural science resources to optimise health communications
The Behavioural Science Unit at Public Health Wales has produced a new suite of resources designed to help public health communicators optimise the impact of their work using behavioural science.
These tools centre around the ‘Behaviourally Informed Communications Initiative (BICI)’ launched last year, including a learning and development report, an interactive workbook, a collection of case studies and a refreshed communications toolkit. The collection provides practical tools, resources and activities to support the application of behavioural science within communications.
Dr Alice Cline, Principal Behavioural Science Specialist, said:
"Each of these publications has been developed to help make the most of the learning and insight gathered as part of the BICI initiative: the report provides the background and process, the co-produced case studies demonstrate real-world application, the workbook offers an interactive tool to help optimise communications, and the communications guide serves as a quick reference for daily practice.”
The initiative has already generated a diverse range of case studies written with practitioners from across the health sector in Wales, demonstrating how behavioural science principles have been applied to improve communications in areas including: vaccination programmes, cancer screening services, smoking cessation support and health appointment reminders.
One case study shows how Help Me Quit SMS messaging was redesigned using behavioural insights, addressing barriers like lack of immediate prompts and motivational framing that had previously limited engagement. The revised messages included clear calls-to-action prompting immediate responses and used positive health-focused language to maintain user motivation, which has led to improved engagement.
Ashley Gould, Programme Director of the Behavioural Science Unit, said:
"Communications are a frequently relied upon public health intervention – we need them to work harder for us, to protect and improve health, and reduce inequity. The updated guide follows a structured 'SCALE' approach that provides communicators with a step-by-step framework for optimising communications.
“By breaking down the process into five key stages—Specify, Consider, Assemble, Layout, and Evaluate—we've created an approach that bridges behavioural science theory and real-world application. SCALE incorporates the COM-B model, which helps identify barriers and enablers of behaviours to underpin more effective intervention design and delivery.”
The initiative, launched in June 2024, brought together a wide of range stakeholders who each worked through a specific piece of communication.
Nick Gregory, BICI Attendee, said:
“BICI has been very influential in how we review communications intended for the public and patients alike. We took away some key insights including that the ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘when’ need to be clear to the reader and that reading age is a significant consideration when developing materials.”
The report along with the refreshed communications guide, interactive workbook and case studies are now available at: https://phwwhocc.co.uk/bsu/our-publications/