First Contact Behavioural Interventions for People with Chronic or Palliative Illnesses

Dear Colleagues,

The aim of this Special Issue is to identify novel approaches that provide conditions for lasting behaviour change in people who are easily overlooked. Our hope is that this Special Issue can challenge current thinking linked to the explanation of behaviour change for people with chronic or palliative illnesses who are not represented well by the existing body of research.

Summary of Issue

People may choose to opt out of or are unable to undertake actions that lead to positive behaviour change. There can be many reasons for this, including individuals not being listened to, finding it difficult to adapt to something that has happened, not seeing the relevance, being frightened of the changes that might occur, or not feeling supported to change.

This Special Issue is aimed at identifying interventions that create positive conditions for behaviour change and mental well-being in people with chronic or palliative illness that may not respond to traditional behavioural interventions. The purpose of this work is to ask the following question: ‘what globally is being done to create good psychosocial and environmental conditions that might enable hard-to-reach groups to change their behavioural response?’ The intention is to describe how interventions may create platforms from which people are inspired to change their behaviour. The idea of this Special Issue is to move away from interventions that make small steps forward for a larger picture on physical activity, towards interventions that can change current practice and offer alternative suggestions. The work should be aimed at challenging traditional approaches. The issue aspires to present work that is both broad and novel and that might positively influence the internal and behavioural responses of different population groups. A place from which the first steps created by an intervention can be built upon. Examples that would be relevant include, but are not limited to:

• Interventions that impact on isolation and dependency and show a link or association to more positive behaviours and improvement in mental health. For instance, a review by Kate and Andy has illustrated the impact of a storytelling intervention on an individual’s emotional well-being.
• Interventions that aim to create a lasting impact aside from a set amount of physical activity achieved within a limited time frame. For instance, peer-led approaches may represent a cost-effective way to increase physical activity.
• Interventions that can identify changes in the co-variates of physical activity in individuals newly diagnosed. For example, Andy is involved in work that partners across Europe with people newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease who are given an opportunity to experience a novel behavioural-based intervention with storytelling. This work illustrated how both internal and social support mechanisms can promote mental well-being and have some positive impact on behaviour change.

Please note:

We are less interested in the amount of behaviour change and more interested in the possible explanation of why change is occurring and identifying the conditions needed for lasting change to be established. We are happy for different methodologies to be employed and for any long-term or palliative condition to be the focus. We will consider interventions that are aimed at professionals, carers, or people with a chronic or palliative illness.

Dr. Andrew Soundy
Dr. Kate Reid
Dr. Joe Firth
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• behaviour change
• behavioural approaches
• psychosocial
• environmental
• physical activity
• storytelling
• chronic or palliative illness
• hard-to-reach groups
• qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods