ArticleGlobalization and health2018
Theory and practice of social norms interventions: eight common pitfalls.
Article in Globalization and health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 80 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
80 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Characteristics of successful programmes targeting gender inequality and restrictive gender norms for the health and wellbeing of children, adolescents, and young adults: a systematic review.The Lancet. Global health · 2020Pooled it
- Effects of a Social Media Intervention on Vaping Intentions: Randomized Dose-Response Experiment.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Trial
- Changes in Family-Level Attitudes and Norms and Association with Secondary School Completion and Child Marriage Among Adolescent Girls: Results from an Exploratory Study Nested Within a Cluster-Randomised Controlled Trial in India.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2020Trial
- Multilevel normative tensions under partial outdoor smoke-free policies: A qualitative case study in Seoul, South Korea.Preventive medicine reports · 2026Article
- How community dialogues influence norm change around female genital mutilation: a mediation analysis from a high-burden Kenyan setting.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Perceived Neighborhood Trust, Health Behaviors, and Metabolic Syndrome Among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Shifting social norms, behavioural intentions and opposition to female genital mutilation: Effectiveness of layered community interventions in a high prevalence setting in Kenya.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Measuring social norms endorsement and normative influence on contraceptive use among youth (15-24) in northeastern Uganda.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Article
- Emphasizing the understanding of social norms for cross-cultural public health behavioral interventions.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Psychometric validation of a novel community norms measure among youth, Eswatini Violence Against Children and Youth Survey, 2022.PloS one · 2026Article
- Acceptability, feasibility and perceived benefits of integrating mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) into disease outbreak response in Western Uganda: a qualitative process evaluation study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Building a theory of change to guide fatherhood programming to prevent family violence: a comparison of two programs.BMC public health · 2025Article
- What Happens When [Terai] Girls Play? Understanding the Relationship Between Restrictive Gender Norms, Girls' Experiences of Playing Sport in South-Eastern Nepal, and the Factors That Influence Their Participation.Journal of adolescence · 2025Article
- Intention to use long-acting and permanent contraceptive methods and its predictors among family planning users in Ethiopia: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of public health research · 2025Review
- Design and Baseline Evaluation of Social Media Vaping Prevention Trial: Randomized Controlled Trial Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Article
- The Role of Gender Norms on Intimate Partner Violence Among Newly Married Adolescent Girls and Young Women in India: A Longitudinal Multilevel Analysis.Violence against women · 2025Article
- Associations between violence in childhood, depression and suicide attempts in adolescence: evidence from a cohort study in Luwero district, Uganda.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Breast Ironing from the Perspective of Transcultural Nursing by Madeleine Leininger: A Narrative Review.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2024Review
- Addressing social norms for adolescent timing and spacing of pregnancy in low and middle-income countries: Developing a global research agenda.Journal of global health · 2024Article
20 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecently, Global Health practitioners, scholars, and donors have expressed increased interest in "changing social norms" as a strategy to promote health and well-being in low and mid-income countries (LMIC). Despite this burgeoning interest, the ability of practitioners to use social norm theory to inform health interventions varies widely. MAIN BODY: Here, we identify eight pitfalls that practitioners must avoid as they plan to integrate a social norms perspective in their interventions, as well as eight learnings. These learnings are: 1) Social norms and attitudes are different; 2) Social norms and attitudes can coincide; 3) Protective norms can offer important resources for achieving effective social improvement in people's health-related practices; 4) Harmful practices are sustained by a matrix of factors that need to be understood in their interactions; 5) The prevalence of a norm is not necessarily a sign of its strength; 6) Social norms can exert both direct and indirect influence; 7) Publicising the prevalence of a harmful practice can make things worse; 8) People-led social norm change is both the right and the smart thing to do.
conclusionsAs the understanding of how norms evolve in LMIC advances, practitioners will develop greater understanding of what works to help people lead change in harmful norms within their contexts. Awareness of these pitfalls has helped several of them increase the effectiveness of their interventions addressing social norms in the field. We are confident that others will benefit from these reflections as well.
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