Driving sustainable change in antimicrobial prescribing practice: how can social and behavioural sciences help?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Driving sustainable change in antimicrobial prescribing practice

T2 - how can social and behavioural sciences help?

AU - Lorencatto, Fabiana

AU - Charani, Esmita

AU - Sevdalis, Nick

AU - Tarrant, Carolyn

AU - Davey, Peter

PY - 2018/7/17

Y1 - 2018/7/17

N2 - Addressing the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance is, in part, reliant on the complex challenge of changing human behaviour-in terms of reducing inappropriate antibiotic use and preventing infection. Whilst there is no 'one size fits all' recommended behavioural solution for improving antimicrobial stewardship, the behavioural and social sciences offer a range of theories, frameworks, methods and evidence-based principles that can help inform the design of behaviour change interventions that are context-specific and thus more likely to be effective. However, the state-of-the-art in antimicrobial stewardship research and practice suggests that behavioural and social influences are often not given due consideration in the design and evaluation of interventions to improve antimicrobial prescribing. In this paper, we discuss four potential areas where the behavioural and social sciences can help drive more effective and sustained behaviour change in antimicrobial stewardship: (i) defining the problem in behavioural terms and understanding current behaviour in context; (ii) adopting a theory-driven, systematic approach to intervention design; (iii) investigating implementation and sustainability of interventions in practice; and (iv) maximizing learning through evidence synthesis and detailed intervention reporting.

AB - Addressing the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance is, in part, reliant on the complex challenge of changing human behaviour-in terms of reducing inappropriate antibiotic use and preventing infection. Whilst there is no 'one size fits all' recommended behavioural solution for improving antimicrobial stewardship, the behavioural and social sciences offer a range of theories, frameworks, methods and evidence-based principles that can help inform the design of behaviour change interventions that are context-specific and thus more likely to be effective. However, the state-of-the-art in antimicrobial stewardship research and practice suggests that behavioural and social influences are often not given due consideration in the design and evaluation of interventions to improve antimicrobial prescribing. In this paper, we discuss four potential areas where the behavioural and social sciences can help drive more effective and sustained behaviour change in antimicrobial stewardship: (i) defining the problem in behavioural terms and understanding current behaviour in context; (ii) adopting a theory-driven, systematic approach to intervention design; (iii) investigating implementation and sustainability of interventions in practice; and (iv) maximizing learning through evidence synthesis and detailed intervention reporting.

U2 - 10.1093/jac/dky222

DO - 10.1093/jac/dky222

M3 - Article

C2 - 30020464

SN - 0305-7453

JO - The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy

JF - The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy

ER -