McKenzie-Mohr, D., & Schultz, P. W. (2014). Choosing effective behavior change tools. Social Marketing Quarterly, 20(1), 35-46.
Summary
The paper presents that most of the tools that healthcare professionals need to utilize in improving performance derive from the community-based social marketing (CBSM) approach (McKenzie-Mohr & Schultz, 2014). That approach involves five steps for consideration to improve the level of effectiveness. The process begins with the selection of the behaviors that the program will target. The objective is to select those that present a high impact to increase the probability of adoption. The next step is the identification of barriers and benefits to the adoption process. That involves the understanding of the benefits that people will achieve and using them as motivation to outdo the barriers to implementation.
The third phase encompasses the development and utility of the social change tools that include commitments, prompts, and norms. Others are setting the objectives of the program and convenience. That facilitates the next stage in which the program goes through a piloting exercise to determine its impact on implementation and identify any errors that need correction. The final phase of the CBSM outlook is to implement the program and maintain its operations. The paper focuses on how those tools will work together to make the strategy a success. One of the key strategies is that the study needs a set of objectives that it seeks to achieve, and each participant needs to understand the goals and show a commitment to their attainment.
The main argument is that understanding the barriers and benefits provides a ground for establishing a motivation strategy to enhance the participation of various persons. The observation is that every individual needs to know that their engagement presents a benefit to them. That necessitates the presence of incentives as necessary social tools in the exercise to motivate the people. The understanding of social norms is essential in outlining the target behaviors that require a change by handling them as barriers. The practitioners have to identify what factors are acting as barriers and what incentives they can propose to overcome them. The elimination of these obstacles establishes a common ground for all parties to participate in the program and that covers the aspect of convenience.
After coercing the participation of an individual, it is also essential to ensure that the individual stays true to their agreement, and that necessitates the provision of questions that enhance commitments. The aim is to make sure that the other party develops an interest in the relevant activity and makes a promise that they seek to deliver. Sometimes it is important to establish reminder prompts to the participants and updating the individuals on project progress as well as collecting feedback from them. Using the referral approach can also be significant by encouraging people to include friends and family in the programs.
Conclusion
CBSM is an important strategy for behavioral change as are the findings of the study. The method involves the identification of barriers and the provisions of incentives to overcome them. The primary objective is to establish a common ground for both parties to participate conveniently and enhance behavioral change. The CBSM is efficient in utilizing the behavior change tools, and that makes it relevant for practitioner applications.
References
McKenzie-Mohr, D., & Schultz, P. W. (2014). Choosing effective behavior change tools. Social Marketing Quarterly, 20(1), 35-46.
