Exploring the barriers and facilitators to HIV information and health services among youth in N’Djamena, Chad: a qualitative descriptive study
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms—particularly those related to sexual taboos, abstinence expectations, gender roles, and community surveillance—strongly shape adolescents’ access to HIV information and services in Chad. The discussion emphasizes that stigma, fear of judgment, and power imbalances with authority figures discourage care-seeking, while trusted peer networks and youth-friendly environments can help shift norms […]
Parents’ acceptance of human papilloma virus vaccination for their daughters in adet town, North Gojjam zone, Northwest Ethiopia: A mixed method study
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study highlights that social norms—particularly subjective norms shaped by influential actors such as health professionals, religious leaders, peers, and family—play a critical role in shaping parents’ acceptance of HPV vaccination for their daughters in Ethiopia. Norms operate through perceived expectations and social pressure, where approval or endorsement from trusted community […]
“When he is around, I’ll take the PrEP, but when he is not, I will not take PrEP”: key influences on PrEP use decisions among women attending family planning clinics in Kenya
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms—particularly those related to gender power dynamics, partner influence, and HIV-related stigma—play a central role in shaping women’s decisions around PrEP use in Kenya. Norms that prioritize male partner authority, require partner approval, and associate PrEP with HIV treatment create barriers to uptake, delay, and discontinuation. The study highlights that […]
Qualitative evaluation of an edutainment intervention to prevent age-disparate transactional sex in Tanzania: Changes in educational aspirations and gender equitable attitudes towards work
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study demonstrates that edutainment can shift gender norms by modeling alternative roles and behaviors, helping to create an enabling environment where girls’ education is prioritized and restrictive norms—such as male provider expectations and limitations on women’s work—are challenged. These normative shifts matter because they address underlying drivers of age-disparate transactional […]
Public Perceptions and Social Norms Influencing Violence Contemplation and Perpetration Against Sexual and Gender Minorities in Rwanda
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study shows that social norms—particularly heteronormativity, stigma, and discriminatory community attitudes—play a central role in shaping both the contemplation and perpetration of violence against sexual and gender minorities in Rwanda. Drawing on norm-centered stigma theory, the findings highlight how both descriptive norms (what people perceive others do) and injunctive norms […]
Engaging boys as “Structured Allies” to prevent gender-based violence against girls: Results from the CARE Tipping Point Initiative in Nepal
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study underscores that harmful gender norms—particularly those that normalize male dominance, tolerate sexual harassment, and restrict girls’ agency—are key drivers of sexual bullying and gender harassment (SBGH) in Nepal. Transforming these norms requires engaging boys not just as individuals but as “structured allies” within communities to shift both injunctive norms […]
Understanding How Violence Is Transmitted Across Generations: An In-Depth Multiple Case Study of Families in South Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study highlights that deeply embedded injunctive social norms—particularly those supporting authoritarian parenting, gender inequality, and the acceptability of violence as discipline—play a central role in sustaining intergenerational transmission of violence (ITV) in South Africa. Norms that justify harsh punishment, normalize aggression, and reinforce rigid expectations around obedience and gender roles […]
A longitudinal study examining how self-injection social norms are associated with contraceptive self-injectable interest and use in rural Uganda
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that social norms specific to contraceptive self-injection play a measurable and influential role in shaping both women’s interest in and actual uptake of self-injectable contraception. Importantly, it shows that beyond awareness and access, supportive descriptive and injunctive norms are critical for enabling women to act on their preferences. […]
Perceptions of sexual violence among adolescents and youth in Senegal and Ghana: Insights into normalization, victim-blaming and prospective behavior
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms—especially those related to gender roles, victim-blaming, and the normalization of sexual violence—strongly shape how adolescents and youth understand and respond to sexual violence in Senegal and Ghana. Norms that frame violence as a private matter, legitimize male dominance, and place responsibility on victims contribute to silence and underreporting. The […]
Exploring the youth perceptions of factors contributing to victims’ silence during the armed conflict in Ethiopia
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms—including stigma, normalization of violence, and expectations around silence—play a central role in sustaining underreporting of violence in conflict settings. The study highlights that violence becomes socially tolerated during armed conflict, and norms around shame, fear, and bystander inaction reinforce a culture of silence. These norms are not only individual […]