Kicking Bad Habits: How can the NHS help us become healthier?

Individual responsibility for health and self-care are key themes in recent health policy development in England.

The Wanless review of health care funding (2002) showed that public engagement with health could help to reduce health care costs. Choosing Health (2004) looked at how information, services, retailers and marketers could make healthy lifestyles ‘an easier option’ for people. Our Health, Our Care, Our Say (2006) explored the future of health and social care based on the assumption that individuals would manage their health and health care. These policies are based on a number of ideas:

  • individuals should take greater responsibility for their health care
  • individuals should adopt healthier behaviours to avoid ill-health in later life
  • if individuals do change their behaviours, the hope is that better health will reduce future health costs.

For the NHS and health practitioners working within it the challenge is how to support people to adopt healthier behaviours and avoid risky ones. Much of the published material on models of individual behaviour and change is based on theory rather than practice, and there is little consensus on the elements of successful interventions.

This programme explores both the theory and practice of behaviour change interventions and tries to answer the questions:
  • what interventions are effective in encouraging healthy behaviour?
  • how can the NHS help people become healthier?

As part of this programme, the King’s Fund is producing a series of papers. We are seeking wider input into these papers through discussion at a series of seminars, kindly supported by PruHealth, and invited comment on our website. The discussion papers will examine:

  1. the impact of financial incentives
  2. the effectiveness of targeting low socio-economic groups
  3. the role of information-led strategies
  4. the impact of personal skills, capabilities and confidence to change
  5. strategies for identifying and targeting interventions.

By the end of 2008 we will publish a final report that will bring all these discussions together and will make recommendations for the future.

To get updates on the Kicking Bad Habits programme of work, email your name, job title and organisation to kickingbadhabits@kingsfund.org.uk.

For more information, contact Ruth Robertson.

 

See also