The science of human behaviour change developed through the 1970s and 1980s, primarily focused on health-related behaviours (1), but has more recently expanded to a range of applications including economics, city planning, marketing, and animal welfare (2). A recent synthesis of pre-existing behaviour change frameworks (3) resulted in the behaviour change wheel model of human behaviour change. This model focuses on three categories of antecedents to change behaviour (3):  
 
1. Capability: The ability to engage in a behaviour, including any physical or psychological barriers,  
2. Opportunity: External factors that can support or inhibit behavioural performance, including cultural norms and logistical opportunities and barriers,  
3. Motivation: All motivations including impulsive, emotionally-driven, reflective, conscious or evidence-informed motivations. This presentation will use examples from around the world to illustrate the importance of human behaviour change in improving animal welfare, and the role that effective education can play in this.  
 
References:  
1. Davis R, Campbell R, Hildon Z, Hobbs L, Michie S. Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review. Health Psychology Review. 2015;9(3):323-44.  
2. White J, Rogers S, editors. Keynote Presentation: Making Animal Welfare Sustainable–Human Behaviour Change for Animal Behaviour: The Human Element. Proceedings of the 11th International Veterinary Behaviour Meeting; 2017: CABI Wallingford, UK.  
3. Michie S, van Stralen MM, West R. The behaviour change wheel: a new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implement Sci. 2011;6:42-.

Educational Topic
Animal Welfare & Human Behavioural Intersections