“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 […]
Overcoming structural violence through community-based safe-spaces: Qualitative insights from young women on oral HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in Kisumu, Kenya.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms—particularly those related to gender roles, stigma around HIV and PrEP, and expectations governing young women’s behavior—are deeply embedded within broader systems of structural violence and significantly shape access to HIV prevention services. The study highlights that norms around female respectability, sexuality, and obedience, as well as stigma linking PrEP […]
Exploring relationship pathways to prevent intimate partner violence among young women in Malawi.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms—particularly those related to masculinity, male provision, women’s gender roles, and sexual expectations—play a central role in shaping relationship dynamics and intimate partner violence (IPV) among young women in Malawi. The study highlights that IPV is often triggered when men perceive threats to their socially expected roles (e.g., being questioned […]
Support or Interference: Relational Influences on Mother’s Exclusive Breastfeeding Practices in Ghana
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms—particularly those related to infant feeding practices, gender roles, and caregiving responsibilities—play a central role in shaping exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) behaviors. Norms around infant thirst, beliefs that breastmilk alone is insufficient, and expectations that grandmothers and other relatives should guide infant feeding often lead to early introduction of water or […]
The intersection of career aspirations and family planning among women in Lagos State: a qualitative analysis
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms—particularly those related to gender roles, spousal authority, and expectations around motherhood—play a central role in shaping women’s family planning decisions in Lagos. The discussion highlights that patriarchal norms position men as primary decision-makers in reproductive matters, often limiting women’s autonomy and requiring spousal approval for contraceptive use. At the […]
“The child of your fellow is your child”: Building on existing protective norms to engage men as caregivers; qualitative findings from an exploratory evaluation of an edutainment intervention to prevent age-disparate transactional sex
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms—particularly those related to gender roles, masculinity, caregiving, and community responsibility—can be effectively shifted by building on existing positive and protective norms rather than introducing entirely new ones. The discussion emphasizes that norms positioning men primarily as financial providers can be expanded to include emotional engagement, caregiving, and active involvement […]
Motivations for Starting and Stopping PrEP: Experiences of Adolescent Girls and Young Women in the HPTN 082 Trial
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms—particularly those related to gender, sexuality, and HIV stigma—are central to adolescent girls’ and young women’s (AGYW) decision-making around PrEP use, often outweighing individual risk perceptions. The discussion emphasizes that norms such as expectations of male infidelity, acceptance of condomless sex in relationships, stigma linking PrEP to HIV infection or […]
You are looked upon as a luxury tool’: Young Tanzanian women’s perception of community norms supporting partner violence during transactional sex (kudanga)
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms surrounding transactional sex (kudanga) in Tanzania both stigmatize women and normalize their subordination, creating a paradox where the practice is widely condemned yet structurally reinforced. The discussion highlights that norms rooted in gender inequality—such as expectations that men provide and women reciprocate with sex—legitimize male control, constrain women’s agency, […]
Measurement of social norms for entertainment-education
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms are central to how entertainment-education (EE) programs influence behavior, but their measurement requires nuanced, multidimensional tools. This study demonstrates that descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and outcome expectations can be empirically distinguished and measured with moderate reliability, highlighting that norms are shaped by reference groups and perceived social rewards or […]