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The Theoretical Domains Framework



The Theoretical Domains Framework is quite a comprehensive framework that is used to help people identify factors (eg. barriers and facilitators) that may influence behavior and/or behavior change.


While many theories solely focus on individual factors (e.g. beliefs and motivations), the Theoretical Domains Framework also includes social and environmental factors. It is both:

  • a planning tool to help identify determinants (and appropriate techniques) to address barriers and facilitators to behavior change; and

  • an evaluation tool to assess how effective an intervention was at targeting specific behavior determinants and/or to identify factors that contributed to intervention's failure or success.


The original version of the TDF incorporated 33 psychological theories related to behavior change into 128 constructs (parts of theories), which were sorted into 12 general domains (broad areas or concepts where a theory applies, e.g. motivation).


That version was revised in 2012, as seen below, and consists of 84 constructs sorted into 14 domains.



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