Provider Behavior Change Implementation Kit

This I-Kit provides step-by-step guidance on using social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) to change health provider behaviours related to motivation, attitudes, and norms, with the ultimate goal to improve client outcomes. The I-Kit is designed to: help users understand and prioritise barriers that healthcare providers face, design an assessment to identify whether those barriers can be addressed by a SBCC approach, and develop an SBCC intervention to influence attitudes, beliefs, and norms that undermine providers’ willingness and ability to perform their jobs well.

As stated in the I-Kit, "Providers play a crucial role in the health system, especially because of their regular interactions with clients. Provider behavior toward clients is influenced by many factors, such as values, social norms, supervision, skills, knowledge, and structural context. Provider Behavior Change seeks to positively influence provider behavior by addressing those factors and providing solutions for improvement."

The I-Kit is intended for anyone working with and interested in changing provider behaviour and improving services. This may include service delivery and SBCC programme managers and designers.

This I-Kit is divided into four main sections:

• Learn - Offers information related to key concepts on providers, the types of providers, the factors that influence them, and how SBCC can be used to address those factors.
• Assess - Helps users identify, understand, and prioritise provider-related barriers to quality service provision. It offers guidance on how to design a tailored assessment using the step-by-step process in the Provider Needs Assessment, or, to use data already collected and frame the results using the Needs Summary Table.
• Determine - Using SBCC can be a powerful way to change provider behaviour. However, SBCC cannot address all the challenges providers face, and should be used alongside health systems strengthening approaches. This checklist is meant to be used to determine if SBCC is appropriate for addressing the barriers providers face.
• Design - This section will help with the design of an SBCC intervention to change provider behaviour by addressing the motivational barriers identified, such as, self-efficacy, social and gender norms, perceived place in social hierarchy/status, rewards, and work environment. It offers a 9-step guide for two different providers: community health workers (CHWs) and facility-based providers (FBPs). The steps for each (CHWs and FBPs) include:
  1. Analyze the Situation
  2. Identify the Core Problem
  3. Define Your Audience
  4. Develop Communication Objectives
  5. Determine the Key Promise and Support Points
  6. Define Your Strategic Approach
  7. Match Communication Approach to Identified Motivation Barrier
  8. Develop an Implementation Plan
  9. Monitor and Evaluate ["Motivation cannot be observed or measured directly and as a result, monitoring and evaluation must measure the key factors of motivation." For CHWs, these factors are defined as: connectedness, social status, social and gender norms, incentives and personal rewards, and personal attitudes and beliefs; for FBPs, they are defined as: self-efficacy, perceived place in social hierarchy/status, social and gender norms, rewards, and work environment.]

The kit also includes a collection of resources that showcase effective provider behaviour change interventions.