Practice theory and health intervention

Public health research has found that neither interventions focused on the ‘wider determinants’ nor focused on changing individual behaviours have enjoyed outstanding success. Critique focuses on the way ‘behaviour change’ responsibilises individuals to change, without attending to the socio-cultural organisation of everyday life that hold patterns of action in place. Practice theories are one of the approaches that offer an alternative explanation and basis for intervention, foregrounding practices rather than individual choices as the building blocks of everyday life. They focus on the habituated patterning of everyday lives as practices unfold dynamically and evolve over time and space through those who carry them. Research and intervention from a practice theoretic perspective focuses on the characteristics of practices, connections between their elements, and their interrelationships with other practices. It also attends to ways to recruit practitioners who are traditionally excluded from health-promoting practices.