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37 - Monitoring Interventions

from Part III - Behavior Change Interventions: Practical Guides to Behavior Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2020

By
Thomas L. Webb  and
Marijn de Bruin
Edited by
Martin S. Hagger ,
Linda D. Cameron ,
Kyra Hamilton ,
Nelli Hankonen  and
Taru Lintunen
Martin S. Hagger
Affiliation:
University of California, Merced
Linda D. Cameron
Affiliation:
University of California, Merced
Kyra Hamilton
Affiliation:
Griffith University
Nelli Hankonen
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
Taru Lintunen
Affiliation:
University of Jyväskylä
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Summary

Monitoring is a self-regulatory process involved in making changes to behavior. Monitoring involves a person, group, or organization taking stock of the current situation, comparing this to some goal or reference value, and identifying whether or not there is a discrepancy. Noting a discrepancy can be a reason for taking additional action to ensure goals are achieved or for adjusting or disengaging from the goal. Monitoring can also identify actions required to overcome barriers to goal striving and whether these actions have the intended effects. Given that people often do not monitor their progress, termed “the ostrich problem,” interventions that prompt monitoring can be an effective way to promote changes in behavior. This chapter reviews the evidence that monitoring interventions promote changes in behavior, identifies how monitoring has been conceptualized within theoretical models and existing taxonomies of behavior change techniques, and describes some of the mechanisms by which monitoring promotes behavior change. The chapter concludes that monitoring can be an effective strategy for promoting changes in a range of behaviors and contexts but also that developing monitoring interventions can be complex. A practical guide for the development and application of monitoring strategies is also presented, based on the literature and research evidence on monitoring interventions.

Keywords

self-monitoringgoal strivingreference valuesmonitoring promptsanticipated affectfeedback and monitoringmonitoring methodsmonitoring frequency
Type
Chapter
Information
The Handbook of Behavior Change , pp. 537 - 553
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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