Behavior change communication

Behavior change communication (BCC) is an interactive process of any intervention with individuals, communities and/or societies (as integrated with an overall program) to develop communication strategies to promote positive behaviors which are appropriate to their settings. This in turn provides a supportive environment which will enable people to initiate, sustain and maintain positive and desirable behavior outcomes.

BCC is the strategic use of communication to promote positive health outcomes, based on proven theories and models of behavior change. BCC employs a systematic process beginning with formative research and behavior analysis, followed by communication planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Audiences are carefully segmented, messages and materials are pre-tested, and mass media (which include radio, television, billboards, print material, internet), interpersonal channels (such as client-provider interaction, group presentations) and communtiy mobilisation are used to achieve defined behavioral objectives.

BCC should not be confused with behavior modification, a term with specific meaning in a clinical psychiatry setting.

Providing people with information and teaching them how they should behave does not lead to desirable change in their response/behavior. However, when there is a supportive environment with information and communication (teaching) then there is a desirable change in the behavior of the target group. Thus, BCC is proved to be an instructional intervention which has a close interface with education and communication. It is a strategic and group oriented form of communication to perceive a desired change in behavior of target group.

However, it is not as easy as it sounds, as there is no one-size-fits all strategy for any intervation. Intervenions are context specific. Therefore, there is a need for proper information management and sharing. It is advised to document and report the interventions that worked somewhere, for example, the kind of messages, the medium and the audience.

BCC is the comprehensive process in which one passes through the stages:

Unaware > Aware > Concerned > Knowledgeable > Motivated to change > Practicing trial behavior change > Sustained behavior change

It involves the following steps:

...
Wikipedia