Interventions to increase physical activity: An analysis of candidate behavioural mechanisms.

Physical inactivity is a significant driver of health and social inequalities, particularly affecting socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. This poses a major challenge to policymakers worldwide. Despite the large volume of original research and reviews that focus on the design and evaluation of interventions to increase physical activity, there remains little consensus on which interventions are likely to work. This paper discusses physical activity interventions through the lens of behavioural science. We consider the conclusions drawn by previous reviews of this literature and link them to potential behavioural mechanisms that might explain them. We categorise interventions into three broad types: physical environment, information provision and social context, and discuss specific components within each that are known to influence behaviour. The paper is not a systematic nor an exhaustive review. The recommendations are not for implementation without testing. Rather, the paper contributes an analysis of how existing evidence can be used to design research and interventions in future to test not just the main outcome, but the behavioural mechanisms that may determine success.

Training behavioural therapists in presession pairing skills to evaluate the impact on children's life skill acquisition rates.

Presession pairing is a well-documented behaviour analytic practice that supports the development of a positive instructional environment and is associated with reduced rates of challenging behaviour among children with developmental disabilities. However, there is limited research evaluating the impact of presession pairing on children's skill acquisition rates. Therefore, in the current study, four behavioural therapists were systematically trained in an established presession pairing protocol and using a multiple baseline across participants design, the impact of this training on life skill acquisition rates among a group of four children with Autism Spectrum Disorder was evaluated. A robust improvement rate difference was calculated for each child and a robust omnibus improvement rate difference showed that the impact of training therapists in the presession pairing protocol had a very small effect on the children's life skill acquisition rates. These findings were discussed in the context of the importance of reporting null findings and designing replication studies that provide an understanding of why an effect was not demonstrated, in order to develop and refine clinical practice.

Teaching Children with Autism to Initiate and Respond to Peer Mands Using Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS).

We evaluated the effects of systematic prompting plus reinforcement on listeners' independent responses to peer mands and on speakers' peer-directed mands using the picture exchange communication system (PECS) in two studies. In Study 1, three PECS users with a diagnosis of autism were trained to direct PECS exchanges toward peers, whereas in Study 2, three peers with autism were taught to accept a PECS card, select the requested item from an array of three items, and place it in front of their peer. Study 1 showed an increase in peer PECS mands that generalized to novel trained peers for all participants. Results of Study 2 demonstrated an increase in correct independent responses to PECS exchange for all participants, a response that readily generalized across peers and settings for two out of three participants. These results suggest that this intervention protocol may be an effective way to increase interactions between peers with autism.