title: Expanding the scope and relevance of health interventions: moving beyond clinical trials and behavior change models.
abstract: An overemphasis on clinical trials and behavior change models has narrowed the knowledge base that can be used to design interventions. The overarching point is that the process of overanalyzing variables is impeding the process of gaining insight into the everyday experiences that shape how people define health and seek treatment. This claim is especially important to health decision-making and behavior change because subtle interpretations often influence the decisions that people make. This manuscript provides a critique of traditional approaches to developing health interventions, and theoretically justifies what and why changes are warranted. The limited scope of these models is also discussed, and an argument is made to adopt a strategy that includes the perceptions of people as necessary for understanding health and health-related decision-making. Three practical strategies are suggested to be used with the more standard approaches to assessing the effectiveness and relevance of health interventions.
authors: Department of Mental Health Law & Policy, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA; rigg@usf.edu.
authors: Khary K
authors: KK
authors: Rigg
authors: Social Sciences Department, Miami-Dade College, Miami, FL, USA.
authors: Hilary H
authors: HH
authors: Cook
authors: Department of Sociology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA.
authors: John W
authors: JW
authors: Murphy
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003657:Decision Making; D015438:Health Behavior; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health
keywords: behavior change models; clinical trials; ethnography; health interventions; narratives; photovoice; public health; theory