Does Mass-Media Public Communication Campaign Normalize Discussion, Attitude and Behavior about Condom Use among Married Men in India?
Key Social Norms Take-aways: While the study does not directly measure social norms, it explores how a mass-media campaign designed to shift norms—particularly around masculinity and condom-related stigma—was associated with changes in individual attitudes, discussion, and self-efficacy. The campaign aimed to normalize condom use by reframing it as responsible and masculine, and reducing embarrassment around […]
Evaluation of the Confiance Totale Campaign in Togo: Associations Between Campaign Exposure and Family Planning Outcomes of Interest
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Confiance Totale campaign influenced perceived descriptive and injunctive norms, couple communication, and self-efficacy, suggesting that ideational changes, particularly trust in providers and peer behaviors, play a crucial role in contraceptive uptake and reproductive autonomy. The campaign had stronger effects among women, who traditionally have lower access to health information and […]
Monitoring the quality assurance branding campaign Confiance Totale in Côte d’Ivoire
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Confiance Totale campaign effectively influenced social norms related to family planning by leveraging mass media to challenge misperceptions about peer behaviors and build trust in healthcare providers. The campaign’s ideational approach shifted both descriptive and injunctive norms, particularly among women, and encouraged greater partner communication and decision-making autonomy. These changes […]
The Communities Care programme: changing social norms to end violence against women and girls in conflict-affected communities
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This article offers important preliminary insights into how social norms around violence against women and girls can begin to shift in conflict-affected settings. While full evaluation data were not yet available, early findings from the Communities Care program suggest that participatory, community-driven dialogue processes can open space for challenging norms related […]
Changing Social Norms: the Importance of “Organized Diffusion” for Scaling Up Community Health Promotion and Women Empowerment Interventions.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This article highlights the importance of “organized diffusion”—the process by which intervention participants intentionally share what they have learned with others in their networks—as a cost-effective strategy for promoting social norms change. Organized diffusion can amplify the reach and sustainability of community-based interventions by transforming both personal attitudes and collective norms, […]
Community mobilization to modify harmful gender norms and reduce HIV risk: results from a community cluster randomized trial in South Africa.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that community mobilization (CM) can shift harmful gender norms among men, creating more supportive social environments for HIV prevention. However, changing norms did not immediately translate into reductions in risk behaviors, highlighting the complexity of transforming norms into action. The findings suggest that norm change may precede behavioral […]
Assessing the impact of CHARM2, a family planning program on gender attitudes, intimate partner violence, reproductive coercion, and marital quality in India
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The CHARM2 intervention demonstrates that structured, gender-synchronized counseling with both men and women can improve attitudes toward gender equality and reduce social acceptance of intimate partner violence in patriarchal settings. However, despite shifts in normative attitudes, behavior change such as reductions in intimate partner violence or reproductive coercion may require more […]
Effects of digital chatbot on gender attitudes and exposure to intimate partner violence among young women in South Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that digital, behaviorally informed interventions can influence deeply rooted gender norms at scale. It is one of the first randomized trials to show that a chatbot can both improve gender attitudes and reduce intimate partner violence exposure among young women. The findings expand the evidence base on how […]
Fertility preservation and protection: young women’s decision-making about contraceptive use in Zimbabwe
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Prevailing social norms in Zimbabwe dictate a moral and reproductive trajectory in which young women are expected to marry, prove fertility by having a child, and only then begin using hormonal contraception. These norms lead many young, nulliparous women to avoid long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), despite their availability, due to fears […]
Effectiveness of the Communities Care programme on change in social norms associated with gender-based violence (GBV) with residents in intervention compared with control districts in Mogadishu, Somalia
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The evaluation of the Communities Care program in Somalia offers rigorous evidence that collective reflection and community-driven action, rather than individual attitude change alone, can influence social norms around violence, family honor, and male entitlement. It also provides a validated social norms measurement tool that can be used in future violence […]