A Conceptual Approach to Managing the Behavioral Determinant of Public Health

Introduction: The behavioral determinant includes a set of factors related to human behavior with respect to health and performance of labor, military, reproductive and other strategically important social roles and functions. The implementation of the latter plays a key role in ensuring the national security of the country.

Materials and methods: The approach was developed in compliance with recommendations contained in the Urban Health Index methodology by the World Health Organization, GOST R ISO/TS 21667-2009 “Health informatics – Health indicators conceptual framework”, and “Tools and Ethics for Applied Behavioural Insights: The BASIC Toolkit” by the OECD. We systematized the results of 33 studies published since 1980 and found in the RSCI, Springer, and PubMed databases using the keywords “behavior”, “public health”, and “health”.

Results: The behavioral determinant of public health is proposed to be managed in six steps, the implementation of which will help establish the causes of behavioral errors. The article outlines the approach to developing a strategy for action to form target behavior aimed at maintaining the quality of public health and gives the examples of various behavioral errors, including limited attention of people, wrong estimation of outcomes and probabilities, and contextual influence. Other behavioral errors, however, can be identified in the sphere of public health.

Discussion: Further research should be aimed at compiling a comprehensive list of behavioral errors to be managed in order to maintain public health.

1. Muslimov MI, Gureev SA, Mingazova EN. On the issue of public and population health. Menedzher Zdravookhraneniya. 2024;(7):97-105. (In Russ.) doi: 10.21045/1811-0185-2024-7-97-105

2. Bhatia R, Gaydos M, Yu K, Weintraub J. Protecting labor rights: Roles for public health. Public Health Rep. 2013;128(Suppl 3):39-47. doi: 10.1177/00333549131286S307

3. Sisk B, McLeroy K. On public health and the military. Am J Public Health. 2008;98(12):2122. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.151050

4. Fidler AT, Bernstein J. Infertility: From a personal to a public health problem. Public Health Rep. 1999;114(6):494-511. doi: 10.1093/phr/114.6.494

5. Dogra S, Dunstan DW, Sugiyama T, Stathi A, Gardiner PA, Owen N. Active aging and public health: Evidence, implications, and opportunities. Annu Rev Public Health. 2022;43:439-459. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-052620-091107

6. Huijts T, Stornes P, Eikemo TA, Bambra C; HiNews Consortium. The social and behavioural determinants of health in Europe: Findings from the European Social Survey (2014) special module on the social determinants of health. Eur J Public Health. 2017;27(Suppl 1):55-62. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckw231

7. Оmarova DS, Begun DN, Bulycheva EV, Duisembayeva AN, Borshchuk EL. Methodological approaches to measuring public and individual health as a medical and social resource and the potential of society. Menedzher Zdravookhraneniya. 2024;(5):94-103. (In Russ.) doi: 10.21045/1811-0185-2024-5-94-103

8. Petrov VI, Gerasimenko AS, Gorbatenko VS, Shatalova OV, Ponomareva AV. [Efficacy and safety of vaccines for COVID-19 prevention.] Lekarstvennyy Vestnik. 2021;15(2(82)):3-9. (In Russ.)

9. New B. Paternalism and public policy. Econ Philos. 1999;15(1):63–83. doi: 10.1017/S026626710000359X

10. Arkhangel’skii VN, Kalachikova ON. Women and men: Differences in fertility and reproductive behavior indicators. Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast. 2021;14(5):165-185. doi: 10.15838/esc.2021.5.77.10

11. Farhud DD. Impact of lifestyle on health. Iran J Public Health. 2015;44(11):1442-1444.

12. Ramirez AG, Chalela P, Sabado-Liwag MD, Choi K. Behavioral determinants in population health and health disparities research. In: Dankwa-Mullan I, Pérez-Stable EJ, Gardner KL, Zhang X, Rosario AM, eds. The Science of Health Disparities Research. Wiley; 2021:59-76. doi: 10.1002/9781119374855.ch4

13. Ghebreyesus TA. Using behavioural science for better health. Bull World Health Organ. 2021;99(11):755. doi: 10.2471/BLT.21.287387

14. Porcelli AJ, Delgado MR. Stress and decision making: Effects on valuation, learning, and risk-taking. Curr Opin Behav Sci. 2017;14:33-39. doi: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.11.015

15. Kapeliushnikov RI. Behavioral economics and new paternalism. (Part I). Voprosy Ekonomiki. 2013;(9):66-90. (In Russ.) doi: 10.32609/0042-8736-2013-9-66-90

16. Duca G. Design of the SMART Objectives System in the management of a research project. In: Xu J, García Márquez FP, Ali Hassan MH, Duca G, Hajiyev A, Altiparmak F, eds. Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Management Science and Engineering Management. ICMSEM 2021. Lecture Notes on Data Engineering and Communications Technologies. Springer, Cham; 2021;79. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-79206-0_34

17. Muthuri R, Capecchi S, Sulis E, Amantea IA, Boella G. Integrating value modeling and legal risk management: An IT case study. Inf Syst E-Bus Manage. 2022;20:27–55. doi: 10.1007/s10257-021-00543-2

18. Renjith V, Yesodharan R, Noronha JA, Ladd E, George A. Qualitative methods in health care research. Int J Prev Med. 2021;12:20. doi: 10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_321_19

19. Yakovleva EA. Behavioral economics as a field of scientific knowledge in modern economics. Journal of Economic Regulation. 2014;5(2):62-69. (In Russ.)

20. Yusupova OA. Past due debt in the credit portfolios of Russian banks: Causes of occurrence and workout methods. Finansy i Kredit. 2015;(3(627)):14-26. (In Russ.)

21. Kazantsev LV, Sabanina LA, Startseva AV. The problem of consumer distrust in receiving medical services. In: Development of the Russian Society: Current Challenges: Proceedings of the National Scientific and Practical Conference dedicated to the 90th Anniversary of the Baikal State University, Irkutsk, October 15–16, 2020. Irkutsk: Baikal State Univ. Publ.; 2021:265–272. (In Russ.)

22. Sergeichuk AV. Practical implementation of behavioral economics by the example of pension savings management. Zhurnal Pravovykh i Ekonomicheskikh Issledovaniy. 2019;(2):222–227. (In Russ.) doi: 10.26163/GIEF.2019.50.47.036

23. Dubonosova SV. Reasons for sports discontinuation: A retrospective analysis of the physical activity in medical students. Sportivnaya Meditsina: Nauka i Praktika. 2023;13(1):21-27. (In Russ.) doi: 10.47529/22232524.2023.1.3

24. Gagarina EYu, Storozheva YuA. Communicative competence of a doctor in the context of online consultation. Vestnik Rossiyskogo Novogo Universiteta. Seriya: Chelovek v Sovremennom Mire. 2020;(4):68-73. (In Russ.) doi: 10.25586/RNU.V925X.20.04.P.068

25. Buzina TS, Buzin VN, Lanskoy IL. Doctor and patient: Interpersonal communication. Meditsinskaya Psikhologiya v Rossii. 2020;12(4(63)):2. (In Russ.) doi: 10.24412/2219-82452020-4-2

26. Karashchuk LN. Challenges of patient-doctor trust. Lichnost' v Menyayushchemsya Mire: Zdorov’e, Adaptatsiya, Razvitie. 2020;8(1(28)):17-24. (In Russ.) doi: 10.23888/humJ2020117-24

27. Golodnikova AE, Tsygankov DB, Yunusova MA. Potential for using "nudge" concept in state regulation.] Voprosy Gosudarstvennogo i Munitsipal'nogo Upravleniya. 2018;(3):7-31. (In Russ.)

28. Belekhova GV. Regulation of Financial Behavior of the Population of Modern Russia: Regulatory Context Formation and Personal Development. Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast. 2020;13(3):111128. (In Russ.) doi: 10.15838/esc.2020.3.69.8. EDN HJIOLG.

29. Vasilieva TP, Larionov AV, Russkikh SV, et al. Methodological approach to organizing public health monitoring in the Russian Federation. Zdorov'e Naseleniya i Sreda Obitaniya. 2022;30(7):7-17. (In Russ.) doi: 10.35627/2219-5238/2022-30-7-7-17

30. Oreshenkov AA. Current global challenges to human development potential: The example of health care. Pravo. Ekonomika. Psikhologiya. 2023;(1(29)):34-42. (In Russ.)

31. Kabanovskaya JI. Qualified and non-qualified investors of the securities market. Uchenye Zapiski Mezhdunarodnogo Bankovskogo Instituta. 2018;(2(24)):16-26. (In Russ.)

32. Gagarina MA. [Social and Psychological Determinants of Debt Relations.] Saratov: Institute of Psychological and Economic Research Publ.; 2024.

33. Kuznetsov ОP. Bounded rationality and decision making. Iskusstvennyy Intellekt i Prinyatie Resheniy. 2019;(1):3-15. (In Russ.) doi: 10.14357/20718594190101