Behavioral science theory and principles for practice in health education

The value of health education practice lies in its effectiveness. Behavioral science theories have greater potential to enhance the effect- iveness of practice than is currently realized. Many have called for development of strategies to overcome current barriers to the use of theory in the field. Such strategies should explicate the potential of commonly taught behavioral science theories to facilitate practice and assist practi- tioners in using such theories. This paper pre- sents one such strategy: a set of principles for practice, derived from multiple behavioral science theories and having many direct implica- tions for practice. Health educators who are knowledgeable of these principles may be better prepared to consolidate their knowledge of mul- tiple theories and better prepared to derive implications for practice from their theoretical knowledge. To the extent that health educators are proficient at synthesizing theoretical information and distilling from this information implications for practice, the utility of theory in practice should be enhanced.