Identifying behaviour change techniques for sustainable food consumption: A systematic review using the BCTTv1.

Abstract

Due to the significant impact of Western diets on the environment, interventions are being trialled in supermarkets, restaurants, and other settings to encourage sustainable food consumption (SFC). The Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy (BCTTv1) lists and categorises Behaviour Change Techniques (BCTs), which facilitates the development and understanding of behaviour change interventions. However, its applicability to pro-environmental behaviour change has not been extensively explored. This systematic review uses the BCTTv1 to identify the BCTs that have been previously used to encourage SFC behaviours. Studies were retrieved from Scopus, PSYCInfo, GreenFILE, and the Web of Science Core Collection. Twenty-six interventions across 19 articles were reviewed, enabling the identification of 13 BCTs which were coded using the BCTTv1 and categorised according to their target behaviour and effect size. The most frequently applied BCTs were 12.1 'restructuring the physical environment', which was used in the most effective interventions; 6.2 'social comparison', which was used in interventions with smaller and more unpredictable effects; 5.3 'information about social and environmental consequences'; 5.2 'salience of consequences'; and 7.1 'prompts/cues'. Despite challenges in assessing the BCTs' effectiveness due to multicomponent interventions and varying effects across different contexts, this review offers recommendations on changing SFC behaviour as well as the applicability of the BCTTv1 for SFC interventions.