Behavioral interventions are interventions designed to affect the actions that individuals take with regard to their health. The typical medical intervention is a clinical trial of a particular drug, surgery, or device. In the trial, doctors provide different services to different people, and then evaluate the outcomes. Variation in patient behavior is generally shunned; a strong emphasis is placed on making sure that patients do exactly what is expected from them. With behavioral interventions, in contrast, patient behavior is the key and the goal is to change it. In considering issues such as the high rate of preventable illness (McGinness and Foege, 1993) or racial disparities in health, behavioral interventions are key. This chapter reviews what is known about the success and failure of behavioral interventions and speculates about why some interventions are more successful than others.
