Evaluating behaviour change communication campaigns in health and safety: A literature review

Abstract

Selected international research was reviewed to investigate how six fields other than road safety (i.e. healthy eating/physical activity, smoking, alcohol and drug use, workplace health and safety, suicide and juvenile offending) evaluated their behaviour change communication campaigns. The review also considered best practice for providing evidence of the effectiveness of these campaigns and explored whether these practices could be translated to road safety. Overall, the health and safety literature indicated that there is no single model for best practice in evaluating communication campaigns but there are some general principles that are highly germane to road safety: • using a recognised model/theory of behaviour change • multiple measurement methods • measuring target behaviours at each stage of the campaign • using a control group not exposed to the campaign • identifying factors that can influence the likelihood of the desired behaviour. Given adequate resources, all health and safety domains, including road safety, might improve the quality of their evaluations with sound experimental designs and the increased use of objective forms of behaviour measurement, assisted by advances in affordable technology.