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Modifiable behavioural risk factors are the leading causes of mortality in the developed world. Effective behaviour change interventions are thus the key to improving people’s health (Mokdad et al., 2004). But the current quality of published evaluations of behavioural interventions limits improvement in the science of behaviour change. In this editorial we reflect on experiences gained when conducting a systematic review of 34 trials of behavioural interventions for obese adults with additional cardiovascular risk factors using Cochrane methodology (Dombrowski, Avenell, & Sniehotta, under review). We suggest the pressing need for improvements in current standards for developing, evaluating and reporting theory-based interventions, if there is to be a cumulative science of behaviour change.

The Quality of Evidence Health psychology needs to be more than a catalogue of interventions that investigators have …