COM-B Analysis Study Notes

The COM-B analysis is a toolkit designed to summarize themes from fact-finding exercises after conducting a KJ analysis, helping to structure insights within the COM-B framework.

This represents the specific actions or practices targeted for analysis and improvement.

Definition: Refers to the skills, abilities, or proficiencies individuals possess that enable them to perform the targeted behaviour.
- Physical Capability: Involves physical skills, strength, or stamina.
- Psychological Capability: Involves mental processes like knowledge, memory, and cognitive skills.

Definition: Refers to the external factors or context that facilitate or hinder the ability to perform the targeted behaviour.
- Physical Opportunity: Includes environmental resources like time, location, and physical affordances.
- Social Opportunity: Encompasses social influences, norms, and cultural factors that may encourage or discourage behaviour.

Definition: Refers to the internal processes that drive the engagement in the targeted behaviour.
- Reflective Motivation: Involves conscious plans and evaluations related to the behaviour (e.g., beliefs about the consequences of actions).
- Automatic Motivation: Consists of automatic processes such as emotional responses, desires, and habits.

Facilitators: Elements or conditions that enable or enhance the occurrence of the targeted behaviour (referred to as "fuel").
Blockers: Elements or conditions that inhibit or prevent the targeted behaviour from occurring (referred to as "friction").
Strategy for Behaviour Change:
- If the aim is to increase the targeted behaviour, focus on increasing facilitators and reducing blockers.
- If the aim is to decrease the targeted behaviour, focus on increasing blockers and reducing facilitators.

Question: Do individuals possess sufficient physical skill, strength, or stamina to enact the targeted behaviour?
Evaluation Criteria: Identify potential blockers and facilitators, provide comments and evidence from fact-finding to support claims.

Question: Do individuals have the appropriate psychological skills, knowledge, strength, or stamina for the mental processes required for the behaviour?
Evaluation Criteria: Similar to physical capability, identify blockers and facilitators and gather evidence.

Question: Does the environment provide sufficient opportunities regarding time, location, resources, or cues to enact the behaviour?
Evaluation Criteria: Identify potential physical blockers and facilitators with supporting evidence.

Question: Are there sufficient social opportunities influencing the likelihood of enacting the behaviour?
Evaluation Criteria: Explore social influences, norms, and pressures within the environment and gather supporting themes.

Question: Are there reflective processes involving plans and evaluations affecting the behaviour?
Evaluation Criteria: Gather evidence to assess potential reflective blockers and facilitators.

Question: Are there existing automatic processes, such as emotional reactions or habits, that influence the behaviour?
Evaluation Criteria: Identify automatic blockers and facilitators with supportive evidence.

Evaluate the completeness of information regarding potential blockers and facilitators.
Consider whether different groups exist with varying COM-B profiles, understanding that not all identified factors apply universally.
Assess which blockers or facilitators hold greater influence and which can be more easily modified.
Utilize insights to determine effective intervention functions, focusing on education, training, persuasion, and other methods as necessary.

Revisit notes and photographs from a relevant field trip to analyze observed behaviour targeted for change.
Conduct KJ analysis (optional) to extract themes from raw observational data and categorize them within the COM-B framework, reflecting on the overall analysis.

An insightful reminder: "The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind."
- This quote symbolizes the pursuit of knowledge and understanding, implying insights may be elusive and require deeper engagement.