ACT: An Evidence-Based Macro Framework to Examine How Communication Approaches Can Change Social Norms Around Female Genital Mutilation

Sood, Suruchi; Kostizak, Kelli; Lapsansky, Charlotte; Cronin, Carmen; Stevens, Sarah; Jubero, Mar; Kilbane, Theresa; Obregón, Rafael

doi:10.3389/fcomm.2020.00029

Cited by 11 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The conceptual model and ACT framework have gone through many stages of development, review, and validation prior to finalization in 2021. Framework development started with social norms and FGM desk review, which was followed by several meetings with experts in the social norms, communications, and FGM-related fields ( 34 ). Instruments were then created to measure the indicators representing the ACT constructs.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the individual level, the theory of planned behavior developed by Ajzen and Fishbein (30) provides a way to predict intentions and subsequently behavior from an individual's attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and perceived subjective norms (30). On the other hand ideation, social networks and social support theorizing encourage a focus on broader policy decisions and intersectional issues such as gender and religion (31)(32)(33).…”

Section: Social Norms and Fgmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The UNJP recognized that a rigorous theory and evidence-based M&E framework was needed to link programmatic approaches to the changes observed in order to determine what works, what refinements are needed, what challenges persist, and the overall impact of the work. ACT, a macro-level M&E framework designed to be adaptable while still providing standardization around social norms measurement, was developed to fill this need ( 32 ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Combining Theory and Research to Validate a Social Norms Framework Addressing Female Genital Mutilation

Sood

Ramaiya

2022

Front. Public Health

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Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a harmful practice with no benefits and considerable harm to girls and women who undergo it. In 2016, the United Nations Joint Program to Eliminate FGM, funded the development and subsequent validation of a monitoring and evaluation framework to understand the relationship between social norms and practicing FGM. Evidence on the framework was gathered through a pilot study in Ethiopia. This paper uses cross-sectional quantitative data from the pilot to operationalize the framework and determine what factors are associated with practicing FGM. A total of 554 and 481 participants answered the question “Have you undergone FGM?” and “Do you know a family member who has undergone FGM?” respectively. Overall, 65% of participants said they had undergone FGM and 32% said they knew someone in their family who had undergone FGM. Predictors of not undergoing FGM included most progressive attitudes vs. less progressive attitudes about FGM and relationship to identity [OR: 1.9 (95% CI: 1.1–3.3)]; region [Afar vs. Addis Ababa: OR: 0.09 (95% CI: 0.02–0.5); Southern Nations Nationalities and People's Regions vs. Addis Ababa: OR: 0.1 (95% CI: 0.05–0.3)], being 36 years old and above vs. 10–19 years (OR: 0.2 (95% CI: 0.1 to 0.7)) and being single, never married vs. married or engaged (OR: 2.8 (95% CI: 1.1–7.0)]. Predictors of knowing a family member who has not undergone FGM included: Higher knowledge vs. lower knowledge [OR: 0.3 (95% CI: 0.1–0.5)]; if the family expected you to abandon FGM, you had a greater odds of knowing a family member who had not undergone FGM [43.6 (95% CI: 2.7–687.8)]; coming from Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's Region was associated with a lower odds of knowing a family member who had not undergone FGM [0.3 (95% CI: 0.1–0.6)]. Being a female influential vs. female caregiver was associated with a higher odds of knowing a family member who had not undergone FGM [2.9 (95% CI: 1.01–5.2)]. This paper has allowed us to validate a theory and research based social norms framework, specifically examining how social and behavior change communication can be used as a mechanism for shifting norms around a given harmful practice. Now that this model has been developed and validated, it is likely to provide a foundation to study the direct and indirect impacts of social norms programming on changing harmful practices, such as FGM.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Norms and Fgmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Combining Theory and Research to Validate a Social Norms Framework Addressing Female Genital Mutilation

Sood

Ramaiya

2022

Front. Public Health

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“…This module, synthesized in the manual Everybody Wants to Belong, looks at the behavioral determinants of social norms with multiple social norms components grouped into sociological factors that affect psychological factors like attitudes, cognitive bias, and self-efficacy, and in turn the adoption of a new behavior (Petit & Zalk, 2019). A third and final framework, consolidated under the acronym ACT, attempts to measure social norm change around harmful practices, specifically Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), resulting from communication interventions using a social-ecological perspective (Sood et al, 2020). ACT stands for the different sections of the framework (two sections per letter): ( 1 Growing interest in measuring social norms has resulted in recent guides, which have mostly focused on quantitative techniques (Institute for Reproductive Health, 2019; Petit & Zalk, 2019).…”

Section: Social Norms Constructs and Theoretical Underpinningsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ACT stands for the different sections of the framework (two sections per letter): ( 1 Growing interest in measuring social norms has resulted in recent guides, which have mostly focused on quantitative techniques (Institute for Reproductive Health, 2019; Petit & Zalk, 2019). Though there is widespread agreement that qualitative methods are useful for examining norms (e.g., using vignettes), much of the measurement literature has not tapped into participatory research as a technique to understand and evaluate norms (Sood et al, 2020). Additionally, despite all of these theories, models, and measurement frameworks, a thorough understanding of how social and behavior change interventions address social norms is yet to be articulated.…”

Section: Social Norms Constructs and Theoretical Underpinningsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Norms Theory and Measurement in Entertainment-Education: Insights from Case Studies in Four Countries

Riley

Rodrigues

Sood

2021

Entertainment-Education Behind the Scenes

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Entertainment-education (EE) is formally defined in other texts as "the process of purposely designing and implementing a media message to both entertain and educate in order to increase audience members' knowledge about an educational issue, create favorable attitudes, shift social norms [emphasis added by us], and change overt behavior" (Singhal & Rogers 1999;Singhal & Rogers, 2002; Singhal & Rogers, 2004, p. 5). Although this definition of EE has evolved over time, social norms remain a fundamental part of this creative communication strategy (Poindexter, 2004). But while social norms have been considered since the beginning

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Social institutions, gender attitudes and female labour force participation in sub‐Saharan Africa

Zawaira

Clance

Chisadza

2022

South African J Economics

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Using data from the Ethnographic Atlas and World Values Survey within a structural equation modelling (GSEM) framework, we analyse how historical social institutions and current gender attitudes influence female employment outcomes, specifically female labour force participation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We find that patriarchal systems generally reduce female labour force participation, in relation to matriarchal systems. We also find that current gender attitudes have negative effects that appear to be dominated by the historical social institutions. The findings suggest that historical social institutions are important in understanding gender dynamics in SSA because they inform on gender identification and appropriate gender roles.

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ACT: An Evidence-Based Macro Framework to Examine How Communication Approaches Can Change Social Norms Around Female Genital Mutilation

Cited by 11 publications

References 29 publications

Combining Theory and Research to Validate a Social Norms Framework Addressing Female Genital Mutilation

Combining Theory and Research to Validate a Social Norms Framework Addressing Female Genital Mutilation

Social Norms Theory and Measurement in Entertainment-Education: Insights from Case Studies in Four Countries

Social institutions, gender attitudes and female labour force participation in sub‐Saharan Africa

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