Behavioural economics, which integrates insights from psychology to understand deviations from rational decision-making, has been instrumental in refining strategies for promoting healthier lifestyle choices in the current global health landscape. As worldwide rates of chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions continue to rise, there is a pressing need for effective health interventions that can address these issues at both individual and societal levels. Although traditional health promotion efforts, including educational campaigns and regulatory policies, have demonstrated success, they often fall short in achieving lasting behaviour change. Many interventions do not adequately account for cognitive biases and decision-making processes that heavily influence individuals’ health behaviours.
Consequently, there is an increasing recognition of the role that behavioural economics can play in developing interventions designed to encourage sustainable health behaviour change through subtle, non-coercive mechanisms, collectively known as nudging. Despite the significant advances in behavioural health interventions, research gaps remain, especially in understanding how to consistently implement behavioural economic principles to foster long-term health behaviour change. Although nudges have demonstrated efficacy in specific settings, there is a lack of systematic frameworks that connect these principles with public health practices to ensure consistent impact. Most current interventions rely on isolated applications of nudging strategies, and few provide a structured, scalable model that health organisations and policymakers can adopt across different contexts. Furthermore, ethical and socioeconomic considerations pose challenges to developing universally applicable nudges, as interventions that may work well in certain demographics could prove ineffective or even counterproductive in others.
The Juncture Model
All the views and opinions expressed are those of the author. Image Credit – Behavioural Scientist.
About the Author
Akul Thapak is pursuing Bachelor of Commerce Honours – B.Com (Hons) at the Banaras Hindu University. He is a volunteer of the National Service Scheme (NSS). He is also a part of Social Media team at Drishti – The Helping Hand. He has profound interest in international relations in context of economic and social implications.
