Behaviour Change Communication

Summary

Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) refers to the strategic use of communications to encourage individuals and communities to adopt healthier and more sustainable practices. BCC has been successfully deployed to change behavioural practices especially in the WASH space. This Tool, provides a basic definition of BCC, discusses the behaviour change model and steps, provides guidance on the process of designing and implementing a BCC programme, and reflects on key principles to make BCC campaigns more successful.

Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) Definition and Rationale

Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) refers to the strategic use of communications to positively influence people’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices. In the water sector, BCC has been heavily applied in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) space (Dreibelbis et al., 2013), and to a lesser extent in irrigation (Blackstock et al., 2010) and disaster risk management (Bubeck et al., 2012). The approach uses a critical discernment of people’s behaviour and then aligns it with persuasive communication methodologies. Effective BCC requires, on the one hand, a strong knowledge of how individuals and communities think and act and, on the other, the customisation of messages and communication activities based on those observed needs and local realities. The tailored messages are then disseminated through various selected channels of communication, such as peer-to-peer, group, and mass media to bring about positive changes in behaviour regarding specific challenges. Behaviour change does not happen overnight, it requires sustained efforts by multiple stakeholders working at different levels.

Behaviour Change Model and Stages

Before getting into how to design a BCC strategy, we must first understand how behaviour change works at the individual level. The Transtheoretical Model of Health Behaviour Change suggests that there are six stages of changing ones behaviour (Prochaska and Velicer, 1997) (Figure 1):

Pre-Contemplation: At this stage the individual is yet to determine a problem even exists in their behaviour.
Contemplation: Acknowledgment of the problem begins, but the individual may not be ready to make a change.
Preparation/Determination: Getting ready to make a change.
Action/Willpower: Making decisive action towards changing behaviour. At this point the individual is undergoing increased awareness, education, and capacity building.
Maintenance: Here the individual tries to consistently maintain the changed behaviour. In this regard, consistency can be linked to a cycle of information and engagement to create an environment that is conducive towards positive change.
Termination: Full change occurs at this stage, the induvial does not return to old behaviour. Monitoring and evaluation is critical once this stage is reached to determine how effective was the change. “Slippage” or “relapse” may happen as certain individuals may return to old behaviours, especially if a conducive environment for change is not maintained.

Figure 1. Transtheoretical Model Stages of Behaviour Change. Source: Adapted from Prochaska and Diclemente, (1997)

Figure 1. Transtheoretical Model Stages of Behaviour Change (Adapted from Prochaska and Diclemente,1997)

Process of Designing and Implementing BCC

Here are the 6 steps for developing an impactful BCC programme strategy:

1. Enabler and Barrier Assessment: The first step to a successful BCC programme strategy is to carry out research about the target audience, including an extensive assessment of the behaviour to be changed and the reasons underpinning it. This requires assessing their knowledge, attitudes, needs, and habits (where do they seek information? On what platforms are they engaged? etc.). Barrier and enabler analyses can be supported by participatory methods such as community mapping and focus group discussions (Thomas, 2010). Practitioners are then able to identify the critical bottlenecks to be addressed, e.g. physical, attitudes, or institutional etc.(see table below). The Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behaviour (COM-B) Model is one methodology that is available and highlights the barriers for each area. The COM-B Model provides sample questions the practitioner should ask in identifying barriers for each area (Government Communication Service, 2021). The “Doer/Non-Doer” practical analysis framework developed by Bonnie (2013) focuses the enablers which have supported the early-adopters the desired behaviour change.

Type of barrier	Barriers	Solutions
Physical	• Do not have a latrine and go to the toilet in the bush in the morning • Lack of privacy, fear of insects, feeling ashamed and loss of dignity from defecating in the open • Latrines with high steps and narrow doors. • Unsafe latrine (e.g. no doors or roofs) and dark inside • Crawl or jump into the latrine and get flthy doing this • Wells and pond with no ramps and nothing to hold onto • Paths that are rough and bumpy make it diffcult to get to a water point • Lack of equipment to get water out of the water source and back to the home such as cart, basket, motorized pump	• Increase accessibility of facilities • Widen doors with level entrances and ramps and handrails instead of steps • Building ramps/rails and widen the path to the water pump
Attitude	• Isolation in the family/community • High level of discrimination from the community, especially against poor people with disabilities • Limited social support - people with disabilities are not prioritized • Neighbor does not allow people with disability to share the latrine	• Conduct awareness raising on disability rights – targeting family, community and local authorities (e.g. Commune Councils), to change attitudes towards people with disability Institution/ organisations on water supply and sanitation
Institution/ organisations	• Lack of information on hygiene for people with disabilities • Lack of plans on WASH for people with disabilities in Commune Investment Plan (CIP) • Limited awareness of existing manuals and guidance • Community and local authorities do not understand about disability rights	• Conduct hygiene campaigns in different formats to reach people with different impairments • Ensure disability is integrated into various national plans. • Promote plans for WASH for people with disability in local planning process • Promote awareness of approaches to inclusive WASH. • Conduct awareness raising on disability rights – targeting family, community and local authorities (e.g. Commune Councils), to change attitudes towards people with disability

Table 1. Example of Conducting a Barrier Analysis for WASH Services Accessibility in Pusrat Province, Cambodia (WaterAid, 2015)

2. Developing and Building BCC Materials and Campaign: This is the stage where the designers of the BCC programme decide the message and the communication channel for engagement and interaction with the specific target groups. The messages need to be adapted to the target audience, to their level of knowledge, their challenges, and their perceptions about what can and cannot be done. The messages should be concise, easy to understand, and delivered in a manner that directly applies to them and their behaviour. The F-Diagram is one of the most commonly used BCC materials used in the WASH sub-sector (Figure 2). It is a graphic illustration that describes the potential faecal oral communications pathways which is intended to encourage people to adopt the safe sanitation and hand washing behaviours.