By Carolyn Stephenson, EVP, Central Strategy Lead, and Kathy Moriarty, VP, Integrated Strategy
Imagine, for a moment, that you’ve just received some surprising information from your doctor. To take better care of your health, your doctor is strongly recommending that you entirely give up sweets, alcohol, cigarettes, or any other indulgence you enjoy. Starting today.
What would you do? Some of you might give up the vice cold turkey and never look back. Some might mostly give it up but occasionally indulge, feeling either guilty or defiant. Some might choose to continue indulging but make other lifestyle changes. And others might continue as usual and give up nothing.
The point of this story is not to label or judge which of these responses are right or wrong. We all have the best of intentions when it comes to our health. However, human behavior is incredibly nuanced and complex, and we don’t always understand why we make certain choices.
While behavioral science is utilized in every industry sector, we believe that it belongs in healthcare. At Syneos Health, we see it as our responsibility to uncover the reasons behind why people behave the way they do. This is because we believe that every brand challenge is a behavior change challenge.
The path to lasting behavior changes entails moving from desire to doing. We connect with an audience’s needs and capabilities to get at the deeper why and reveal exactly how we can encourage progression. We do this by connecting with 4 foundational expressions of behavior:
- “I want” represents intention. This encompasses the values, motivational styles, and contexts that influence perceptions and decisions.
- “I will” represents motivation. This is about striving for goals to achieve something meaningful.
- “I see” represents influence. This acknowledges that humans are social beings who are influenced by the people and information sources around them.
- “I do” represents action. This is the culmination of achieving a goal, involving both taking the first step and then repeating the action to sustain behavior change.
Through this series, we’ll examine each element through the lens of rare disease, a specialty that is also incredibly nuanced and complex. We’re focusing on rare disease to highlight a unique perspective on how to support the needs and drivers of the physicians who treat them. We’ll examine proprietary approaches that enable us to predict how someone will respond, react, or act.
Behavioral science in healthcare is not just about understanding why people make certain health choices, but about designing strategies that respect these complexities and drive meaningful change. We can shape future behaviors, driving the evolution of healthcare marketing towards more predictive, proactive, and personalized strategies.
