Exploring the integration of theory and practice to aid design for behaviour change interventions: A case study of young adults' dietary behaviours

This thesis set out to address two main aims: 1) to identify intervention opportunities for improving young adults' healthy dietary behaviours and 2) to explore the feasibility of integrating academic knowledge into design tools to assist the practice of Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB). The research was composed of four phases: 1) a literature review; 2) a user-centred study to explore young adults' dietary behaviours; 3) a bridging study to design and develop tools for participatory workshops; and, 4) a participatory study to evaluate the feasibility of developed tools and generate ideas to inform the future development of behavioural interventions. This research focused on young adults' eating behaviours. Despite living in an era where health-promotion information and knowledge are accessible and advanced, young adults' eating behaviours are still concerning, with a high prevalence of unhealthy dietary practices being engaged in, which has implications for their current and future health and well-being. Due to the complexity of influencing factors, combined with today's food environment, designing effective interventions for young adults to promote healthier eating is challenging. Additionally, there is a disconnect between relevant cross-disciplinary academic theory and practice-based intervention design, resulting in a lack of cross-fertilisation.A literature review was initially undertaken to establish an up-to-date understanding of young adults' dietary/eating behaviours, current behaviour change solutions to promote healthy eating, and relevant behaviour change theories and models. The literature review was followed by a series of qualitative user-centred studies. A food diary, semi-structured interview and card sorting exercise (Study 1) were conducted with 10 British young adult participants to explore their perceptions of healthy eating and existing interventions around eating well, the barriers and motivations for improving their own dietary behaviours, and their needs and considerations for future interventions. In the bridging study, the findings from Study 1 were then combined with academic theories from behavioural science to inform the development of a set of design tools. These tools were then used in Study 2 in which product, industrial and interaction designers, specialists in diet health, eating behaviour, public health and behaviour change, and British young adults (N=16) each attended one of two participatory workshops and used the tools developed in the bridging study to generate possible intervention concepts for the given target users. Moreover, Study 2 examined the generated concepts against a series of criteria to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of these developed tools in conveying information to different stakeholders through a participatory approach.From the workshops, several possible areas of intervention were suggested for improving the eating behaviours of British young adults who are either at the precontemplation or contemplation stages of changing their behaviours. A set of criteria to evaluate the behaviour-change intervention concepts was also created from the workshops. Outcomes of the workshops also proved the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating academic theories into design tools to assist the practice of DfSB, and provided several practical recommendations for design researchers on how to effectively communicate the research knowledge into design tools and convey it to different stakeholders.Together, the research comprising this PhD thesis has resulted in suggestions for a range of potential interventions, which provides a starting point for designers to develop possible tailored solutions for improving young adults' dietary behaviours. The research also aimed to determine the feasibility of integrating academic theories into design tools to assist the design practice in DfSB. Finally, the researcher's personal reflections on this PhD research process were framed into some suggested recommendations to benefit design researchers in addressing the misalignment between academic research and design practice, which could support and enhance future transdisciplinary design collaboration.