Table 3 Intervention types - definitions, examples, frequency and association with intervention outcomes

Enablement

Increasing means/ reducing barriers to increase capability (beyond education or training) or opportunity (beyond environmental restructuring)

Providing feedback on prescribing e.g. sending prescribing profiles for the previous 3 months to prescribers at intervention sites [55]

3.75

Education

Increasing knowledge or understanding

Guidelines stating the recommended empirical antibiotic to be administered [61]

4.33

Training

Imparting skills

Delivering training sessions on how to use algorithms to support antibiotic prescription decision making [68]

3.5

Modelling

Providing an example for people to aspire to or imitate

Training sessions providing hypothetical case scenarios demonstrating the behaviour [68]

–

Environmental Restructuring

Changing the physical or social context

Assigning a team member to a new role [54]

3.25

Incentivisation

Creating an expectation of reward

Payment to intervention facilities to incentivise compliance to guidelines [53]

–

Restriction

Using rules to reduce the opportunity to engage in the target behaviour (or to increase the target behaviour by reducing the opportunity to engage in a competing behaviour)

Enforcing mandatory attendance to training on antimicrobial prescribing [53]

–

Persuasion

Using communication to induce positive or negative feelings or stimulate action

Using credible sources (such as colleagues perceived to be experts in infectious diseases) to reinforce messages from training, education sessions or guidelines [67]

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