Principles and practice of Behavioural Systems Mapping

A key task in developing behaviour change interventions is to choose the behaviour(s) of target population(s), group(s) and organisation(s) on which to focus in order to achieve the desired objectives. In other words to answer the question of who and what should we focus our intervention on in order to achieve our goal. For example, when attempting to reduce the amount of harmful material that is shared on a social media platform, how far show we focus directly on the behaviour of the perpetrators versus that of others in the social media space who may be in a position to discourage or report it. Behaviours form parts of interacting systems that evolve over time the choice of behavioural and population targets can usefully be informed by modelling the causal influenced in those systems: a process known as ‘behavioural systems mapping’. 

This module takes participants through the principles of ‘systems thinking’ and how this is applied in ‘systems mapping’. It equips participants with the knowledge and skills required to begin to create behavioural systems maps using freely available software and templates specifically designed for the module.

Time: 10am-4pm, with 30 minutes for lunch and 15-minute breaks in the morning and afternoon.