Designing With, Not At, Your Audience: Applying a Behavioral Determinants Framework to Strengthen SBC Strategy Development

When designing an intervention, SBC experts often start with "who do we want to reach" and "what do we want them to do"? While audience segmentation and a behavioral approach are key to SBC success, a top-down approach to strategy can result in well-meaning campaigns like "Breast is Best" that are based in evidence and designed to simply convey a public health message but inadvertently burden target actors emotionally and lead to a behavioral backlash. In this 2-hour workshop, you will learn how to use a Behavioral Determinants Framework to develop a campaign strategy that is grounded in empathy, empowers target actors, and aligns the target behavior with their existing values and needs. The Behavioral Determinants Framework is an innovative strategy planning tool that distills 30 years of social science research into an easy-to-use SBC framework for practitioners. Workshop participants will work in small groups to play the Change the Game strategy card game to learn how to apply a Behavioral Determinants Framework to their campaign planning process.