Practice-based social marketing to improve well-being for people with intellectual disabilities

Psychosocial theories that are often used to inform health promotion interventions for groups with reduced agency are not successful in bringing desirable changes. Critical social marketing provides avenues to disrupt mainstream individualistic approaches, which have been found unsuitable for vulnerable populations due to personal and systemic obstacles that prevent them to change behaviours and adopt healthier lifestyles. Adopting a critical social marketing lens, this conceptual paper explores how social practice theory can help to reimagine social marketing as a tool to reclaim agency, to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable populations, particularly people with disabilities. To demonstrate this practice-based social marketing approach, we used the example of physical activity for people with intellectual disabilities (PwID). Therefore, the paper has theoretical implications, contributing to the critical social marketing literature, and practical implications. It provides examples of how practice-based social marketing can be applied to increase physical activity and agency for PwID who reside in group homes.