Social and Behavior Change Monitoring Guidance

"Breakthrough ACTION has distilled guidance on social and behavior change (SBC) monitoring methods into a collection of technical notes."

This library from Johns Hopkins University Breakthrough ACTION assembles technical notes with guidance on monitoring methods that may be used for social and behaviour change programmes. "Each note provides an overview of a monitoring method that may be used for SBC programs along with a description of when to use the method and its strengths and weaknesses."

The notes, with some examples of contents of linked PDFs, include the following:

• Broadcast monitoring - a method that tracks the output of broadcast media, including TV, radio, and the internet, used especially if a programme has a television or radio component. It can track mentions of the programme, how often components are aired, and changes in "targeted norms, perceptions, awareness, or behaviors related to outcomes of interest over time. In practice, broadcast monitoring generally involves a combination of technologies, software, and resources, including audio and video recordings of media, analysis software, and human analysts."
• Hotlines and hotlines data - a no-cost telephone line dedicated to a specific purpose (such as police tips, suicide prevention, emergencies, etc.) and may be part of a call center that connects to or coordinates referrals for necessary assistance.
• Intercept interviews - short, structured questionnaires designed to gather feedback directly, quickly, and immediately from participants of interest.
• Most significant change technique - participatory and complexity-aware monitoring and evaluation approach to identify key programme outputs and outcomes over a project period.
• Omnibus survey - quantitative research surveys that collect data on a variety of topics during the same interview.
• Outcome harvesting - a monitoring and evaluation method used to identify, verify, and make sense of changes influenced by an intervention.
• Service statistics - a monitoring metric that can be collected to improve health systems and services, usually primary data collection/analysis (done through surveys or interviews, such as exit interviews, including patient satisfaction, length of time spent with provider, and wait time) and secondary data analysis (done through existing health system infrastructures or records, such as de-identified patient records, possibly including client volume, referrals made and/or completed, services offered, and uptake of medication.)
• Short message service (SMS) and interactive voice response (IVR) surveys - remotely administered through mobile devices to reach general or specific populations in a given coverage area, these can be utilized over the course of a programme or intervention on a recurring basis.
• Social media analytics - analysis of digital interactions on social media platforms using various forms of data.