Supporting behaviour change for diabetes prevention

Introduction Changing an existing habit requires people to establish a motivation or intention to change, make decisions and action plans, recognise and overcome barriers (both practical and psychological), initiate the new routine, and then to maintain the new routine, resisting temptations to relapse back to former habits. There is great potential for individual variation in motivations, as well as numerous social, environmental, and psychological factors which might facilitate or hinder efforts to make change. Approaches for supporting changes in diet and physical activity, as used in practice, vary from simple information-giving to more intensive programmes, which may or may not be based on theoretical models of behaviour change.(1-4)