Intervention Planning and Logic Models

Intervention planning is the structured process of moving from a defined health problem to a coherent program, and logic models are the diagrams that make this reasoning explicit by linking inputs and activities to intended outputs and outcomes. Planning frameworks such as PRECEDE-PROCEED and Intervention Mapping provide step-by-step procedures so that every program component can be traced back to a determinant of the targeted behaviour or condition.

Definition

Intervention planning is the systematic specification of a health program's objectives, methods, and components based on an assessment of the determinants of a health problem; a logic model is a graphic representation of the hypothesised links between a program's resources, activities, outputs, and outcomes.

Scope

The topic covers how planners diagnose a health problem and its determinants, set objectives, select theory-based methods, and lay out the program's causal logic. It treats logic models as planning and communication tools and describes the major planning frameworks at a conceptual level. It is a reference-educational topic, not a recipe for designing a particular program.

Core questions

• How is a health problem decomposed into behavioural and environmental determinants that a program can target?
• What is the function of a logic model in program planning?
• How do frameworks like PRECEDE-PROCEED and Intervention Mapping structure the planning process?
• How are theory and behaviour-change methods linked to specific program objectives?

Key concepts

• Determinants of behaviour (predisposing, reinforcing, enabling factors)
• Logic model (inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes)
• Change objectives and performance objectives
• Theory-based methods and practical applications
• Backward (outcome-first) planning

Key theories

PRECEDE-PROCEED model

A planning and evaluation framework that works backward from quality of life and health outcomes through predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling factors to identify program targets, then forward through implementation and evaluation phases.

Intervention Mapping

A protocol that guides planners through needs assessment, matrices of change objectives, selection of theory-based methods and practical applications, program production, and implementation and evaluation planning.

Mechanisms

Planning frameworks operate by reasoning backward from the desired health and quality-of-life outcomes to the determinants that produce them, and then forward to the activities that can change those determinants. A logic model captures this chain visually: it lays out the resources a program will use, the activities it will deliver, the immediate outputs, and the short- and long-term outcomes expected, making the program's underlying theory of change inspectable. Because each activity is tied to a determinant and each determinant to an outcome, planners and evaluators can later check whether the assumed causal links held.

Clinical relevance

Logic models and planning frameworks shape the preventive and educational programs that clinicians and public health teams encounter, and understanding them helps in reading a program's rationale and evaluation. The topic describes how programs are structured and reasoned about; it is not a clinical protocol for any individual.

Evidence & guidelines

PRECEDE-PROCEED is codified in Green and Kreuter's Health Program Planning, and Intervention Mapping is described in Bartholomew et al. (1998); reviews of behavioural science theory in intervention development (Glanz & Bishop, 2010) summarise how theory is mapped onto program components. The Ottawa Charter (WHO, 1986) provides the broader health-promotion framing within which these planning approaches sit.

History

Lawrence Green's PRECEDE framework emerged in the 1970s and was extended to PRECEDE-PROCEED to incorporate implementation and policy phases. Intervention Mapping was introduced in 1998 as a more granular protocol linking determinants to change objectives and theory-based methods. Logic models, drawn from program evaluation and management traditions, were absorbed into health promotion planning as a standard way to make a program's theory of change explicit.

Key figures

• Lawrence W. Green
• Marshall W. Kreuter
• L. Kay Bartholomew
• Gerjo Kok
• Karen Glanz

Seminal works

• green-kreuter-2005
• bartholomew-1998

Frequently asked questions

What is a logic model used for?

A logic model lays out the assumed links between a program's resources, activities, and intended outcomes, making its theory of change explicit so that planners and evaluators can check each step.

Why do planning frameworks reason backward from outcomes?

Starting from the desired health and quality-of-life outcomes ensures that every program activity is chosen because it targets a determinant that actually contributes to those outcomes, rather than being added by habit.