8e. Intervention Mapping: A Complementary Approach to PRECEDE-PROCEED

In spite of its widespread adoption and influence, the PRECEDE-PROCEED model is not without its limitations. The model is heavily dependent upon data, making its application prohibitively costly and time-consuming in some situations — especially when immediate action is required to address a health issue. A second limitation is that the model, while spanning the requisite stages of intervention development from planning to evaluation, does not provide detailed guidance for each step.^2,3 In response to these identified shortcomings, Green and Kreuter have suggested applying their model in part or in tandem with more specific theories.¹

Population health intervention planners may find it helpful to supplement the PRECEDE-PROCEED model with the intervention mapping process outlined your textbook.⁴

Intervention mapping spans the spectrum of change theories, from behaviour to environment-focused, and guides users in selecting theory-based interventions that are then operationalized and organized as specific strategies. For example, a situational assessment may reveal a dearth of affordable supermarkets (a.k.a. a “food desert”) as a contributing factor to food insecurity in an economically disadvantaged neighbourhood. Intervention mapping could then identify a combination of community and policy change theories that could be applied to inform a comprehensive strategy to rectify this deficit.

I won’t provide a detailed overview of intervention mapping, as your textbook does a good job of doing just that (and I don’t want to dissuade you from reading it!). For additional information on intervention mapping and its role in population health planning, I encourage you to watch the following presentation by Gerjo Kok, one of the co-authors of your text.