What is Policy categories?
Policy categories in the Behavior Change Wheel are seven types of institutional actions that enable the delivery of behavior change interventions at scale: communication/marketing, guidelines, fiscal measures, regulation, legislation, environmental/social planning, and service provision.
How it works
Policy categories answer the question: ‘Once we know which intervention function to use, how do we implement it at a population level?’ For example, if environmental restructuring is the chosen intervention function, the policy category might be environmental planning (building cycle lanes) or regulation (banning smoking in restaurants). Multiple policy categories can support the same intervention function.
Applied example
A government wanting to reduce sugar consumption might use fiscal measures (sugar tax), regulation (advertising restrictions on sugary drinks to children), guidelines (dietary recommendations), and environmental planning (requiring water fountains in public spaces) as multiple policy levers supporting the same behavior change goal.
Why it matters
Policy categories connect individual-level behavior change theory to population-level implementation, bridging the gap between knowing what works and delivering it at scale.
