What is an intervention?

• An intervention is any action intended to interfere with and stop or modify a process, treatment undertaken to halt, manage, or alter the course of a pathological process of a disease or disorder.
• An intervention is an action on the part of a psychotherapist to deal with the issues and problems of a client.
• An intervention is a research design, an experimental manipulation.
• The point of an intervention is to solve a problem, theory can be used to help decide what factors are most important to focus on. They must be evaluated to see whether they produce an expected change.
• Randomised controlled trial involves comparing the intervention against something else to see whether the intervention is better or worse in terms of patient outcomes.
• Change4Life is a public health campaign launched in 2009.
• Change4Life aimed at reducing childhood obesity, targeting parents and primary school children over 10+ years.
• Change4Life is media based, using TV ads, websites, and smartphone apps.
• Change4Life targeted problems such as 61% of adults and 28% of children being obese. Higher risks of type II diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.
• Change4Life encourages people to be more active, and eat and drink more healthily. It implemented the idea of calories on menus to reduce weight and associated health problems.
• Public health campaigns can be difficult to evaluate due to there being no control group not exposed to the intervention.
• Croker et al (2012) randomised controlled trail of Change4Life campaign, found increased awareness, but little change in attitudes or behaviour.
• Wrieden & Levy (2016) quasi-experimental study, short-term behaviour change found but may not be sustainable long-term.
• Wrieden et al compared families in England who had signed up to Smart Swaps and families in Wales who had no sign-up facilities available. Welsh families would have been aware of the campaign but would not get additional information.
• Wieden et al found that a higher percentage of families in the intervention group had made healthy swaps compared to the comparison group.
• Not convinced healthy swaps habits could be maintained over time as past behaviour dictates future behaviour.
• Behavioural activation is a form of cognitive behavioural therapy which focuses more directly on the behaviour aspects of a condition.
• BA is used when there is a cycle of experience leading to emotional distress. It aims to try and change the avoidance coping strategy to a more positive coping strategy.
• Clinical depression is a recurrent condition with a global prevalence of 16%, it costs the UK annually £17bn.
• COBRA trial, 440 participants randomised, 221 BA and 219 CBT. Followed up and assessed at 6, 12, and 18 months.
• COBRA trial found no differences between the groups, both BA and CBT were equally effective.