Carotid Atherosclerosis and Metabolic Characteristics Among High-Risk Cardiovascular Populations of Four Ethnic Groups - Yunnan Province, China, 2024.

Whether to reduce the need for treatment with antibiotics or to prevent an epidemic of a new, emerging, or exotic disease, people involved in the care and management of agricultural species are encouraged to implement measures that prevent the introduction and spread of infectious diseases (). These measures, collectively referred to as biosecurity (), include a range of practices that can be broadly categorized into access control, hygiene and sanitation, enhancement of immunity, and exposure reduction. The importance of specific measures may vary depending on the disease of concern (, ) and the goals of the producer (, ). As reviewed by others (), previous studies have sought to understand the perceptions of various types of farmers and the facilitators and barriers relevant to biosecurity and animal health measures in general. Given the complex combination of socio-psychological and economic drivers of behavior, designing and delivering effective interventions to motivate the adoption of biosecurity measures remains challenging. Addressing this challenge requires input from practitioners of multiple disciplines including but not limited to animal and veterinary scientists, social scientists, communication specialists, and marketing experts (, ). The field of health behavior has incorporated behavior change theories and implementation approaches for many years (). There are many theories of behavior change, which may prove daunting when attempting to link an intervention to theory. Different contexts have produced different theories. Some, like the theory of planned behavior () and the health belief model (), are frequently encountered and have been applied in many fields, including animal health (). These theories are useful for describing determinants or antecedents that predict behavior. These predictors, often referred to as constructs, can be assessed with appropriately designed survey questions. Each question or survey item is linked to a construct, and the strength of its association with behavioral intention or behavior itself can be measured. To stimulate behavior change, an intervention should be designed to target an appropriate antecedent or determinant to achieve the desired outcomes (). When designing an intervention, antecedents of more than one theory may be targeted. An understanding of the relevant antecedents, particularly facilitators and barriers, is the key for selecting appropriate techniques to include in the intervention (). In fact, as Kok et al. () point out, behavior change interventions and implementation programs are not limited to focusing on individuals. The context of the desired behavior often determines the level at which the intervention should be targeted. The target could be a group or a community, or more than one level. According to the COM-B framework (), behavior (B) is influenced by capability (C), opportunity (O), and motivation (M). Each of these sources or antecedents of behavior are further subdivided: capability can be either psychological (i.e., knowledge-based) or physical (i.e., physical skills), opportunity can be either social (e.g., cues or prompts from others) or environmental (e.g., time), and motivation can be reflective (i.e., through cognitive processes or attitudes) or automatic (i.e., through sub-conscious attitudes or habit formation). Dogusan et al. () recently reviewed biosecurity intervention literature through the lens of the theoretical domains framework (, ), which is related to COM-B. A simpler approach may be to apply the behavior change wheel of Michie et al. (), which conceptually illustrates how the components of the COM-B framework that interact with behavior (i.e., capability, opportunity, and motivation) can be affected by one or more practical approaches (i.e., interventions designed to modify one or more components of behavior), which in turn can be influenced by policies (i.e., actions that enable or support interventions). This tool appears to be more accessible to the general practitioner and translatable to the context of animal biosecurity.