Increasing student involvement and
engagement in extracurricular activities
through intervention using the
Behaviour Change Wheel
Claire Bowes
Introduction
• Context
• Intervention and behaviour change - Behaviour Change
Wheel
• Methodology
• Results
• Conclusions
Context
•
•
•
•
Highly involved student
Links to success
Employability
Previous research on UCP has highlighted a lack of
extracurricular activity
• Research Aim
– Increase student involvement and engagement in
extracurricular activities through intervention using the
Behaviour Change Wheel
Intervention and Behaviour
Change
• Michie, Stralen and West (2011)
• A systematic review of 1,267 articles from science
and social science databases, in collaboration with
consultations of eight experts
• Revealed a plethora of behaviour change
frameworks
– Based on common sense assumptions on
behaviour change
– Inconsistent
– Incoherent
– Limited
– Lacking in theoretical underpinning
Academic
Intervention
A strategy used
to teach a new
skill, build
fluency in a skill,
or encourage an
individual to
apply an existing
skill to new
situations or
settings (Wright,
2007)
Behaviour Change Wheel Michie, Atkins, & West (2015)
Behaviour
• Underpinned by the notion
that three conditions have
to happen for behaviour to
occur
Intervention • Strategies with which to
change behaviour
Functions
Policy
Categories
• Structural changes to
support/implement change
Methodology
•
•
Design
– Framework of the Behaviour Change Wheel
– Mixed method approach
1. Baseline measurements via academic profiles and questionnaires
via Qualtrics
2. Focus Group – Content analysis utilising grounded theory to
establish themes
3. Establishing Intervention Functions
4. Three Interventions
5. Comparison of baseline measurements
Sample
– Cohort of 41 students studying Psychosocial Studies or Sociology (BA
Hons) – First year - 22 (54%) and Third Year - 19(46%)
– Mean age - 32
– Parents – 25 (61%)
Stage 1 – Baseline Measurements
Measurable Outcomes
Measurement
Stage 1
Profiles on LinkedIn
Number of students
7
Student initiated activities on
campus
Social
Academic
5
1
Student initiated activities off
campus
Social
Academic
12
3
Academic Profiles
Year 1 – Entry Profiles
AAB+ & Distinction (1st and 2:1)
Below AAB & Merit (2:2 and under)
5
17
Academic Profiles
1st
Year 3 – Grade profile end of year 2:1
2
2:2
Third
2
8
7
2
Stage 2 - Focus group
Capability
Opportunity
• Psychological –
Knowledge, or
psychological skills,
strength or stamina
• Mental health
• Confidence
• Unaware of
personal skills
• Physical – Skills,
strength, stamina
• Physical
illness/disabilities
• Physical – physically
accessible,
affordable, time,
resources, location
• Time
• Money
• Childcare
• Social –
interpersonal
influences, social
cues, cultural norms
• Shyness/Not
knowing anyone
Motivation
• Reflective –
conscious decision
making, evaluation
• Workload
• Not reflecting on
experience
• Laziness
• Automatic –
impulses, urges,
drives, habits,
desires, reflex
responses
• Not in routine
Stage 3 – Intervention Functions
Identifying Intervention
Functions
APEASE Analysis
Education
Persuasion
Affordability
Practicability
Effectiveness
and costeffectiveness
Acceptability
Sideeffects/safety
Equity
Incentivisation
Coercion
Training
Restriction
Environmental restructuring
Modelling
Enablement
Intervention 1:- Ice Breakers
Psychological capability
• Mental health
• Confidence
• Unaware of personal skills
Physical opportunity
• Time
• Money
• Childcare
Social opportunity
• Shyness/Not knowing
anyone
Automatic motivation
• Not in routine
• COM-B components
Function
How
Outcome
Incentivisation
Cake
Increased psychological capability
Increased social opportunity
Training
Ice breakers
Increased physical opportunity
Increased automatic motivation
Environmental restructuring Timetabling
Increased physical opportunity
Increased automatic motivation
Enablement
Increased physical opportunity
• Intervention Functions:-
Timetabling
Stage 4 – Interventions
Mentor Scheme
Intervention 1:- Ice Breakers
Introduce your neighbour!
• Take 5 minutes to ask:• Name
• Occupation/role
• Where they live
• Favourite hobby
• Major likes/dislikes
• Greatest fear/ambition
Two Truths, One Lie
• Each person must think of three
statements about themselves.
• Two must be true statements, and
one must be false.
• For each person, he or she shares the
three statements (in any order) to the
group.
• The goal of the icebreaker game is to
determine which statement is false.
• The group votes on which one they
feel is a lie
Stage 4 – Interventions
Mentor Scheme
Intervention 1:- Ice Breakers
Rebuilding Society
• Well into the future, scientists have perfected a bomb which eliminates
people without destroying anything else in the environment.
• At the peak of increasing international tension you are selected, along with
400 other people chosen randomly (of all ages, children without parents,
adults with husbands or wives, single adults), to shelter in a deep mine in
Wales which, it is hoped, will give you some protection
• The worst happens and you all emerge a year later with the remnants of the
food and water originally stored in the mine.
• You are the world’s sole survivors. Without anyone to come to your aid, you
will be forced to construct a new society.
• How will you do this?
Intervention 2- Student Collaborations
Psychological
capability
• Mental health
• Confidence
• Unaware of personal
skills
Physical
opportunity
• Time
• Money
• Childcare
Reflective
motivation
Social opportunity
• Shyness/Not knowing
anyone
• Not reflecting on
experience
• Laziness
Automatic
motivation
• Not in routine
• COM-B components
Function
How
Outcome
Education
Mentoring training
Increase in student initiated activities – on campus
– Socialising, student run study sessions, less
emails. Increased psychological capability,
increased social opportunity, increased reflective
motivation.
• Intervention Functions:Environmental
restructuring
Timetabling
Increased physical opportunity.
Increased automatic motivation.
Enablement
Timetabling
Increased physical opportunity
Intervention 2- Student
Collaborations
• Timetabled once a week
• Training on mentoring based on the
Oxford University Mentor Scheme which
sets clear boundaries and guidelines
alongside advice on emotional labour,
active questioning and open listening
• Began with some facilitation
• Third year led study sessions
Mentoring as
a means of
supporting
peoples’
development
Professional,
career and
personal
development
Intervention 2- Student
Collaborations
For mentees
• Provides impartial advice and
encouragement
• Develops a supportive relationship
• Assists with problem solving
• Improves self-confidence
• Offers professional and academic
development
• Encourages reflection on practice
For mentors
• Good work experience
• References on LinkedIn and CV
• Opportunity to reflect on own
practice
• Enhances peer recognition
• It uses your experience, making it
available to a new person
• It enables you to practice
interpersonal skills
• It provides personal satisfaction
through supporting the
development of others
Practice
Benefits
Costs
• Student autonomy
• Less pastoral care
requirements
• Improved quality of
work (marking)
• Substantially less emails
• Initial set up time
• Preparation of
mentoring and LinkedIn
sessions
Intervention 3 - Employability
Psychological capability
• Confidence
• Unaware of personal skills
Physical opportunity
• Time
• Money
• Childcare
Motivation
• Not reflecting on
experience
• COM-B components
Function
How
Outcome
Education
Skills Audit
Lecture scheduled when students were
already on campus
Increased psychological and physical capability
Increased motivation
Presence on LinkedIn
Persuasion
Lecture – importance of employability skills
Increased psychological and physical capability
Increased motivation
Presence on LinkedIn
Incentivisation
Recommendations by peers and other
lecturers
Increased psychological and physical capability
Increased motivation
Presence on LinkedIn
Modelling
Used own example
I look like I have lots of friends
• Intervention Functions:-
Intervention 3 - Employability
• Timetabled – First years and third years together
(scaffolding) - Skills Audit
Skills Profile Exercise
• 21 transferable skills
• Score, ranging from 1
(low) to 5 (high)
• Identify 5 top skills and
where they were
acquired or how they
are put into practice
• Identify 2 skills with
the lowest score –
How could they be
improved
Team work
Written
communication
Spoken
communication
Listening
Logical
argument
Problem
solving
Analytical skills
Creativity
Flexibility
Practical
Time
management
Self confidence
Selfdevelopment
Information
technology
Tact
Commercial
awareness
Intervention 3 - Employability
• Education on LinkedIn
• How to make a great
profile
• Guidance
• Endorsements
• Recommendations
Stage 5 – Results - Measurable Outcomes
Measurable Outcomes
Measurement
Stage
1
Stage 5
Increase/
Decrease
Profiles on LinkedIn
Number of students
7
35
+400%
Student initiated
activities on campus
Social
Academic
5
1
36
10
+620%
+900%
Student initiated
activities off campus
Social
Academic
12
3
21
8
+75%
+166%
Academic Profiles
Year 1 – Entry Profiles
AAB+ & Distinction (1st and
2:1)
Below AAB & Merit (2:2
and under)
5
17
2&9
(11)
7&1
(8)
+120%
-53%
Academic Profiles
Year 3 – Grade profile
end of year 2
1st
2:1
2:2
Third
2
8
7
2
4
14
1
0
+100%
+75%
-85%
-100%
Conclusions and
Recommendations
• Behaviour Wheel is an effective tool in planning and
staging interventions to change behaviour
• Increase in student initiated activities on and off campus
• Increased grade profiles
• More research into traditional students
• Research into different degree pathways
References
• Cohen, L. M., & Manion, L. L. & Morrison, K., 2011
Research methods in education.
• Michie, S. F., Atkins, L., & West, R., 2015. The behaviour
change wheel: a guide to designing interventions.
• Michie, S., van Stralen, M. M., & West, R., 2011. The
behaviour change wheel: a new method for characterising
and designing behaviour change
interventions. Implementation Science, 6(1), 42.
• Wright, J., 2007. RTI toolkit: A practical guide for schools.
National Professional Resources Inc./Dude Publishing.