The Evidence

How the protocol changes behaviour.

For occupational health teams, HR Directors with a clinical background, and broker partners who want to know what sits underneath the protocol. This page describes the behavioural mechanism PRC operates on, the established research it draws from, and the specific boundaries of what it does and does not do.

The premise

Behaviour is structured. The structure can be mapped, changed, and replaced.

Most behavioural patterns that erode professional output are not decisions. They are automatic responses to specific triggers, running below conscious deliberation. Once mapped at this level, they become operational data. Operational data is something you can redesign.

PRC draws on three established behavioural-science traditions: cognitive-behavioural theory (the cognitive content underneath an automatic response), behavioural-activation research (the environmental and contextual conditions that produce the response), and habit-formation research (the cue-routine-outcome structure that maintains it). The protocol does not deliver therapy. It applies the mechanism these traditions describe to a structured 90-day operational sequence.

The mapping

How the three pillars map onto established behavioural research.

Each pillar of the protocol corresponds to a specific established phase of behavioural change. The clinical framework is widely recognised. The application is structural, sequenced, and operational.

Pillar
Established mechanism
Pillar 1: Mapping
Days 1–30
Behavioural chain analysis. The participant identifies the specific antecedent conditions, the trigger sequence, and the cumulative cost of the automatic response. This is the same diagnostic step used in standard CBT formulation: situation, thought, feeling, behaviour, consequence. PRC translates it into an operational frame: what happens, when, and what it costs in working hours.
Pillar 2: Redesign
Days 31–60
Stimulus control and behavioural activation. The conditions producing the default are altered structurally, not through willpower. This draws directly on Wood and Neal's research showing that context predicts habitual behaviour more reliably than intention does, and Lally's work on automaticity. The participant changes the environment, not the resolve.
Pillar 3: Installation
Days 61–90
Implementation intention and automaticity formation. The replacement response is installed through specific cue-response pairings (Gollwitzer) and runs without the protocol. By Day 90, the participant has a structured replacement that operates automatically under the same conditions that previously produced the default.
Detail

What happens in each pillar.

Days 1–30 · Mapping

Behavioural chain analysis applied to operational output.

Operational & business outcome

Invisible losses made visible. The participant produces a documented cost record — hours lost, decisions deferred, output reworked. The pattern that was operating below awareness is now operational data the participant can act on.

The participant runs through a structured 30-day mapping sequence. The output is not a diary. It is a documented sequence: trigger conditions, the 90 minutes preceding the default response, the response itself, and the operational cost over the following 24 to 72 hours.

What the participant produces

Supporting engine — established psychological framework

This sequence draws on functional analysis as used in standard cognitive-behavioural formulation (Beck, 1979; Padesky and Mooney, 1990) and behavioural chain analysis as applied in DBT-derived contexts (Linehan, 1993). PRC uses the diagnostic logic, not the therapeutic infrastructure.

References at the bottom of this page.

Days 31–60 · Redesign

Stimulus control. Environment first, willpower last.

Operational & business outcome

Hours recovered, decisions streamlined. The trigger conditions are structurally reduced. The participant stops expending energy resisting the default and starts operating with lower friction. Day 30 PRC Index assessment tracks the change.

By Day 30 the trigger conditions are documented. Pillar 2 changes those conditions so the default response has less material to work on. This is structural, not motivational. The participant does not need to want to change. They need to change what feeds the default.

What the participant produces

Supporting engine — established psychological framework

Wood and Neal (2007) demonstrated that habits are predicted by context more reliably than by intention. Wood, Tam and Witt (2005) showed that context disruption (relocation, role change, environmental restructuring) reliably reduces previously automatic behaviour. The protocol applies this experimentally validated finding as a structured 30-day redesign sequence.

Days 61–90 · Installation

Implementation intention. Building the replacement default.

Operational & business outcome

The operational gain runs permanently, without ongoing input. A replacement default is installed that operates automatically under the same conditions that previously triggered the loss. The protocol ends. The gain continues.

The final 30 days install a deliberate replacement response that runs automatically under the same conditions that previously produced the default. This uses implementation-intention research (Gollwitzer): pre-loaded if-then plans tied to specific cues, which over repeated exposure become automatic.

What the participant produces

Supporting engine — established psychological framework

Gollwitzer (1999) showed that implementation intentions (if-then plans tied to specific cues) reliably increase goal-directed behaviour. Lally et al. (2010) found that automaticity formation typically requires 66 days on average, with a range from 18 to 254 days. PRC's 90-day protocol sits inside this evidence band. Haynes et al. (2009) demonstrated that fixed-sequence protocols produce measurable behavioural change in high-stakes operational contexts. PRC applies the same principle: a fixed sequence, run to completion, produces measurable change.

Boundaries

What PRC is. What PRC is not.

The mapping above describes a real and well-established mechanism. The translation into PRC is structural, not therapeutic. The distinction matters legally and operationally.

PRC is not

  • Therapy or counselling
  • A clinical treatment for diagnosable conditions
  • A psychological service
  • An assessment, diagnostic, or prescriptive tool
  • A replacement for occupational health, GP, or NHS provision
  • Independently validated as a clinical outcome measure

PRC is a structured 90-day operational protocol that applies established behavioural-change mechanisms to professional performance patterns. It is delivered via email and self-directed worksheets. It does not require disclosure of what the participant is addressing, because the mechanism operates on the structure of the response, not the content of the trigger.

If a clinical concern surfaces during the protocol, the participant stops the protocol, accesses appropriate clinical support, and the seat is held at no cost with no restart penalty. The off-ramp is structural, not discretionary.

The full scope of practice statement is at prcworkforce.com/disclosures.html.

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References