Critiques of health behaviour change programmes

Abstract

Critics have raised concerns about health behaviour change programmes in the global South. However, there has been very little reflection about what those critiques are critical of and, in particular, what psychology has come to mean within those critiques. The aim of this article was threefold: to describe existing critiques of behaviour change programmes, to reflect on how psychology has been written into those critiques, and to determine what theoretical resources critiques overlook. This article identifies four types of critiques (efficacy, sociological, ethical, and governance) and argues that critiques tend be psychologised and miss important insights from resources related to discourse, gender, knowledge production, and resistance. It is hoped that this article will stimulate further debate about the role of psychology in behaviour change interventions in the global South.