Force field analysis, a technique promulgated by Lewin 50 years ago, is an aid to infection control practice in situations where it is necessary for individuals to substitute new routines for previously accepted practice, as in the required used of personal protective equipment as part of Universal Precautions. By providing a way to link the multiple factors that may be determinants of an individual's behavior, force field analysis offers a way to uncover salient issues and to identify potentially fruitful avenues for intervention to promote the desired behavior change.

Force field analysis directs attention to the goal(s) to be achieved through the behavior and to the forces that drive or restrain the individual in the performance of the behavior being examined. Viewed in relation to use of personal protective equipment as part of infection control procedures, using force field analysis involves becoming clear about the purpose(s) of using personal protective equipment, factors that motivate and make easy the use of personal protective equipment, and factors that act as barriers or deterrents to using personal protective equipment. Recent commentaries in this journal have addressed these issues separately: Jackson and Lynch described the differing purposes of systems of infection control commonly referred to as Universal Precautions and their consequently differing procedures, pointing out potentials for confusion owing to goal; Campbell, 3 reviewing theories of motivation and power, suggested that infection control practitioners attend to these in addition to the technical aspects of practice. Force field analysis brings together these and others of the myriad elements that influence behavior, allowing the practitioner to think creatively about why and why not particular behavior occurs and then to think about what might help make the behavior more likely to occur.