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| Behavior Change - Tools
and Approaches |
| Positive Deviance |
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| This is a formative research tool to
help understand what specific solutions are already being
tried and are working (among a minority of people) in
a community, with regard to difficult health and nutrition
challenges. The concept of positive deviance (although
not the term) has been applied in nutrition programs since
the 1960s. The basic approach is to identify mothers who,
while typically poor, are feeding, caring for, and/or
seeking health care for their children in more effective
ways than others in the community. Basic research questions
are: who are these mothers, how are their practices different,
and why? With the answer to such questions, a program
can design more effective behavior-change activities (see
First Households (Hearth Model)
tool description.) |
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| The concept grew out of efforts to reduce
child malnutrition starting as early as the 1960s. More
recently, it is being adapted to other areas of public
health. (Some of these experiences are described more
fully under First Households (Hearth
Model).) In Egypt, the approach is being used to change
norms and behavior regarding female circumcision. Research
attempted to answer the question, "What are the factors
that enable some families not to circumcise their daughters?"
In the process of asking questions and getting answers,
communities discovered what is inherently positive and
"working" within families, and are able to plan
their own actions based on this information. Because community
members themselves are conducting the research, analysis,
and program planning, the process builds the capacity
of individuals and local organizations and fosters sustainability.
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