Intervention mapping
A six-step protocol for designing behavior-change programs grounded in theory, evidence, and stakeholder input.
What it means
Intervention Mapping is a structured planning process with six steps: conduct a needs assessment (logic model of the problem), specify performance objectives and change objectives in a matrix, select theory-based methods and practical applications, produce the program, plan adoption and implementation, and plan evaluation. Its distinctive feature is the change-objective matrix, which crosses the behaviors people must perform with the determinants (like self-efficacy or norms) that drive them, so every program element traces to a specific target. It is rigorous and transparent, linking each design choice to a determinant and a behavior-change method. The cost is that it is time- and resource-intensive, which can deter rapid or low-budget projects. It matters because it disciplines program design, replacing intuition about 'what might work' with an auditable trail from problem to mechanism to material.
Examples
A team building a fall-prevention program uses the matrix to pair each risky behavior (e.g., skipping exercises) with its determinant (low self-efficacy) and a matched technique (graded mastery tasks).
A team raising handwashing rates maps 'cleans hands before entry' against its determinant — nobody notices if you skip — and picks a matched technique: visible peer prompts at the door.
Planning a teen vaping programme, designers write a change objective for every determinant of refusal, so no lesson exists without a named behaviour and a mechanism behind it.
First described in Bartholomew, Parcel, Kok & colleagues (1998).