Abstract
Critics have raised concerns about health behaviour change programs in the global South.
However, there has been very little reflection about what those critiques are critical of and, in
particular, what psychology has come to mean within those critiques. The aim of this paper
was threefold: to describe existing critiques of behaviour change programs, to reflect on how
psychology has been written into those critiques, and to determine what theoretical resources
critiques overlook. The paper identifies four types of critiques (efficacy, sociological, ethical
and governance), argues that critiques tend be psychologized and miss important insights
from resources related to discourse, gender, knowledge production and resistance. It is hoped
that this paper will stimulate further debate about the role of psychology in behaviour change
interventions in the global South.