The Activate domain focuses on catalyzing individual and collective readiness to take action by addressing the factors that enable or hinder effective engagement in desired practices. It involves equipping individuals and organizations by enhancing their motivation and building relevant skills and readiness. This domain 

Interventions within this domain are grounded in behavior change theories. A suitable theoretical framework is the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), which synthesizes key constructs from multiple psychological theories into domains representing the mechanisms of action of interventions. 

The ACT model includes the TDF components pertaining to individual behavior change in its ACTIVATE domain. 

To guide the selection of appropriate behavior change strategies, tools like the Theory & Techniques Tool can be used. This online resource maps links between specific behavior change techniques (BCTs) and the TDF domains they are known to affect, based on empirical evidence. For example, if a key barrier is low confidence (i.e., beliefs about capabilities), techniques such as goal-setting, action planning, or modeling may be selected to strengthen self-efficacy.

The Connect domain focuses on building and strengthening relational ties among individuals, teams, organizations, and communities, and restructuring social networks to foster shared capacity, mutual influence, and collective action. This domain addresses the flow of information, coordination of effort, and diffusion of innovation, all of which are essential for the successful implementation and coordinated action. The ACT model guides interventions that not only engage key actors but also intentionally shape the network context in which they operate.

Informed by typologies of network alteration strategies (Bunger et al., 2023) and ingredients of network-building intervention (Yousefi Nooraie et al. 2021), the Connect domain helps identify strategic opportunities to strengthen or reconfigure networks. These strategies fall into four broad categories:

• to increase or modify the connectivity among network actors or parts of the network. Examples include joint activities, facilitating dialogue, and trust building.

•  to focus on parts of the network that include actors with more similar attributes (segmentation) or bridging across unconnected/loosely connected clusters. Examples include small-scale regional implementation or boundary-spanning activities.

• to focus on central network actors to enhance social influence or modify actor centrality/prominence. Examples include opinion leader interventions, or promoting certain actors as experts or knowledge brokers.

For example, leveraging highly central individuals can accelerate the spread of best practices, while connecting isolated actors can reduce disparities in access to knowledge or opportunities.

By systematically applying these approaches, the Connect domain supports the design of interventions that are not only responsive to individual needs but are also embedded within a networked ecosystem of sustained collaboration and learning.

The Transform domain focuses on restructuring and optimizing the contexts and systems in which interventions are implemented or actions are happening. This domain acknowledges that sustainable change emerges not only from individual activation or networked collaboration but from the deliberate transformation of the systems in which those behaviors occur. 

Transformation involves not just adopting new practices, but reshaping the conditions that enable or inhibit them. This includes modifying policies, workflows, governance and leadership structures, organizational norms, and physical or digital infrastructures and resources to support the desired implementation or action.

The ACT model’s Transform domain is anchored in the Implementation in Context (ICON) Framework (Squires et al., 2023), which provides a comprehensive, evidence-informed structure for understanding and acting on the multi-level attributes of context. 

By utilizing the ICON Framework, the Transform domain encourages intervention developers to:

• Diagnose contextual strengths and barriers across multiple levels.

• Design structural and systemic interventions that align with the realities of the setting.

• Adapt strategies to fit and shape context over time, rather than treating it as a static backdrop.