The BEHAVE Framework is a strategic
planning tool for managers of programs that have major
behavior change components. It includes various tools
to assist managers in reaching key program decisions,
to decide what data are needed at each step, and to focus
on the audience's point of view. BEHAVE integrates principles
of behavioral science and social marketing to help managers
address four core questions:
Who is my primary audience?
What action do I want them to take?
Which factors ( psycho-social, structural, or other)
make the most difference in their choice to act?
What tactics would most effectively address those
factors?
Planners are encouraged to use research data to help
answer these four questions.
A common pitfall for planners is to
leap directly from selecting a target audience to designing
program tactics. Many activities do not change behaviors
because the key factors associated with a new practice
have not been analyzed. AED designed the BEHAVE Framework
as a way for helping local counterparts to focus on behavioral
issues. Initially, AED staff used BEHAVE to train community-based
organizations in planning prevention strategies for HIV.
The framework is available in English
and Spanish.
The framework was first tested in the United States and
then modified and pilot-tested in an MCH program in Bolivia.
AED has used the BEHAVE Framework with many NGOs in Central
America, the Dominican Republic and Bolivia; with community-based
HIV prevention organizations in the USA; and with a number
of U.S. state health departments.
Child
Health
Formative research on reducing exposure to indoor
pollution; development of tools for families to improve
child health; application of an integrated approach
to improving child health and nutrition
Communications
Capacity Building
Defining a competencies based approach to strengthen
communications capacity; implementing a competencies
approach in Peru
HIV/AIDS
Behavior change to reduce and prevent HIV/AIDS; Raising
awareness and promoting practical actions to challenge
HIV/AIDS stigma; and establishment of peer and counseling
networks
Immunization
Research on barriers to immunization; improving implementation;
and evaluation of community surveillance
Infectious
Disease
Strategies to contain drug resistance, dengue prevention
and control; integrated disease surveillance research
Maternal
Health
Using a behavior change approach to improve access
to skilled care; developing a framework and tools
to increase the use of skilled care during delivery
and post-partum
Polio
Development of a community surveillance kit; lessons
from polio communications programs; and guides and
checklists for routine immunization and disease surveillance
