Application of behavioural psychology principles to self-care programmes for people living with leprosy

To prevent and manage ulcers, people must make changes to successfully engage in self-care practices and adhere to self-care guidelines. Self-care interventions aim to achieve long term behaviour change by instilling a coordinated set of activities—personal care tasks—in the individual’s daily life. Motivation to engage in such activities can be augmented if the work of facilitators and peer trainers is informed by modern psychological and behavioural theories. In these guidelines, we employ the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation Behavioural framework (COM-B) to guide those who will design interventions to promote and sustain self-care interventions. We provide a brief summary of the COM-B model, followed by guidance for those who design and deliver self-care interventions on utilising practical behaviour change methods for successful self-care programmes.