title: 'Are we there yet?' - operationalizing the concept of Integrated Public Health Policies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although 'integrated' public health policies are assumed to be the ideal way to optimize public health, it remains hard to determine how far removed we are from this ideal, since clear operational criteria and defining characteristics are lacking.
  
  
  METHODS
  A literature review identified gaps in previous operationalizations of integrated public health policies. We searched for an approach that could fill these gaps.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We propose the following defining characteristics of an integrated policy: (1) the combination of policies includes an appropriate mix of interventions that optimizes the functioning of the behavioral system, thus ensuring that motivation, capability and opportunity interact in such a way that they promote the preferred (health-promoting) behavior of the target population, and (2) the policies are implemented by the relevant policy sectors from different policy domains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our criteria should offer added value since they describe pathways in the process towards formulating integrated policy. The aim of introducing our operationalization is to assist policy makers and researchers in identifying truly integrated cases. The Behavior Change Wheel proved to be a useful framework to develop operational criteria to assess the current state of integrated public health policies in practice.
authors.affiliation: Academic Collaborative Centre for Public Health Limburg, Regional Public Health Service, Geleen, The Netherlands; Department of Health Promotion, Caphri, School of Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: anna-marie.hendriks@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
authors.forename: Anna-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Hendriks
authors.affiliation: Tranzo, Scientific Center for Care and Welfare, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jolanda
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Habraken
authors.affiliation: Academic Collaborative Centre for Public Health Limburg, Regional Public Health Service, Geleen, The Netherlands; Department of Health Services Research, Caphri, School of Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Maria W J
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, NUTRIM, School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jessica S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Gubbels
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, Caphri, School of Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands; Department of Health Promotion, NUTRIM, School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nanne K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: De Vries
authors.affiliation: Tranzo, Scientific Center for Care and Welfare, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands; National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van Oers
authors.affiliation: University College London, Division of Psychology, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Michie
authors.affiliation: Centre for Outcomes Research and Effectiveness, University College London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Atkins
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, NUTRIM, School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stef P J
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Kremers
mesh_terms: D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000592:standards*; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D017146:Models, Organizational; D015279:Organizational Culture; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D011050:Policy Making
keywords: Health in all policies; Healthy public policy; Integrated approach; Integrated public health policies; Intersectoral collaboration; Whole-of-government approach