How do you monitor behavior change?

Measuring Behaviour Change2017, People in Need (PIN)This short guidance is a part of PIN's Behaviour Change Toolkit. It explains what, when, and how should your monitoring and evaluation system measure and how can you avoid the most common mistakes. IndiKit provides step-by-step guidance on assessing the proportion of people following life-saving and life-protecting behaviours in the health, nutrition, agriculture, WASH, education and other sectors. It helps you with designing and implementing quantitative surveys. Program evaluations play a critical role in improving the quality and determining the effectiveness of the social and behavior change (SBC) strategies and approaches needed to reach nutrition program outcomes. This guide supports implementing partners who are involved with conducting an evaluation of an activity that uses SBC to improve multi-sectoral nutrition outcomes. The webinar recording provides you with practical tips on how your M&E systems can help you to not only measure the results of your SBC programming but also improve its quality and overall impact.

Measuring behavior change is just as important as promoting it. The significance of measuring behavior change lies in its ability to provide feedback on the effectiveness of programs or interventions. There are three main methods for measuring behavior change: self-evaluation, risk movement analysis, and engagement rates. Self-evaluation involves individuals assessing their behavior and performance against a set of standards or expectations. Self-evaluation tools can include periodic surveys or assessments conducted online, on paper, or assisted through an in-person or telephonic interview with a health coach or navigator. Risk movement analysis measures behavior change by assessing changes in health risk factors over time. Measuring engagement requires more than counting how many times someone logs into their account or program, it should be measured by tracking individuals’ actual progress and participation in health and wellness program activities. Examples of engagement rate metrics include goal completion, participation in a particular activity, and earning incentives. Using a combination of self-evaluation, risk movement analysis, and measuring engagement rates, the platform can measure successful changes in health habits.

One commonly employed approach resembles the usage of devices like Fitbit. By monitoring and quantifying physical activity, such as the number of steps taken daily, individuals gain insights into their habits. This act of measurement not only reinforces behavior but also facilitates its improvement. Devices such as Fitbit and our smartphones offer a simple way of measuring physical activity, and because the change is measured by a device, you can be sure it is a true reflection of reality. The self-view method involves surveying individuals and requesting self-evaluations of their own behavior. This can be done using simple pulse survey tools, either across the whole population or a sample group. By conducting the pulse survey on a regular basis, you will be measuring the change in behavior. This method is simple, but can present issues regarding the accuracy of self-assessments. Therefore, combining self-view data with feedback from others can offer valuable insights. The difference between self-assessment and how others perceive your behavior is telling, and it can validate or invalidate how you perceive your own behavior. Surveys with employees, customers, the community or other stakeholders can measure how they see the values and behavior of the organisation. This approach involves assessing a small number of behaviors by the individual, their reports, peers, and manager. To be a valid measure of the change, only the viewpoints of others such as reports or peers, excluding the self-view, should be considered. Many of our clients build a culture index based on “others’ view” of their target behaviors. A good leading indicator of behavior change is to measure the index over time for the leadership population. If behavior is changing in leaders, their reports and levels below will eventually follow because of the shadow they cast. The most important key success factor in measuring change is to choose behaviors that are observable and measurable. For example, instead of statements such as “I respect others”, opt for specific actions such as “I listen without interrupting”, or “I always ask a question before stating my opinion”.

Self-monitoring or tracking simply refers to a person measuring their behavior, experiences, cognition, or other data points over time. Often, merely tracking a behavior can influence the likelihood or frequency with which a person performs the behavior or related ones. For example, many pedometer studies increase walking activity merely by improving awareness, and many interventions that merely consist of rewarding someone for weighing themselves result in weight loss. Similarly, when cognitive behavioral therapy patients track which cues or environments are associated with undesired behaviors or thoughts, they may begin to avoid them. Unfortunately, people often find tracking behaviors tedious and lose interest after a short period, so behavior designers should seek to reduce the burden of self-monitoring by collecting information automatically or doing so in a low-effort way.