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Evidence on the effectiveness of health promotion interventions is mixed, especially in terms of the magnitude of their impact and long-term adherence. This paper proposes a comprehensive approach informed by behavioural economics of developing behavioural change programmes, which is designed to educate, activate, engage and empower people by taking into consideration individual and social mechanisms. Three applied pilots and their results are presented in order to illustrate the approach using cognitive and social mechanisms to lead to better health outcomes, individually and community-wide. More research is needed to explore levers and barriers for the systemic adoption of this framework in implementing health promotion interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explaining the transition from nonhuman to human behavior is a major scientific problem. Penn et al. argue for discontinuous evolution; they review many relevant papers but miss some that disagree with their stance. Given the shifting ground on which Penn et al.'s theories are based, and the likelihood of future studies providing additional information on continuities, a more open approach to continuity is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]