Trustworthiness of Social and Behaviour Change Messages

Output

Process

% of [specify the target group] who believe in the content of provided behaviour change messages

Believing that the information in social and behaviour change (SBC) messages is true can encourage people to act on them. This indicator therefore measures the proportion of the target group members who believe in the content of provided messages.

Determine the indicator’s value by using the following methodology:

 

1) List the messages that you want to assess. Select messages that make clear claims about the promoted behaviour or its benefits, so that respondents can say whether they believe these claims are true. For example, “Mothers! Breastmilk is the only food babies need during the first six months of life. They do not need any other food or fluids during this period."

 

 

2) Set the minimum number of messages the respondent needs to see as trustworthy in order to meet the indicator (for example, at least 3 out of 5 messages).

 

 

3) Conduct individual interviews with a representative sample of the target group members:

 

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTION (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Q1: The message in [specify the communication material] says that [specify what the message claims]. To what extent do you believe that such information is or is not true?

A1: _

1) fully believes in what the message says

2) only partially believes in what the message says

3) does not believe in what the message says

4) does not know

 

 

4) Repeat the same question for all the other messages you want to assess.

 

 

5) Count the number of messages which the given respondent perceived as trustworthy - “fully believed” in what the message says.

 

 

6) To calculate the indicator’s value, divide the number of respondents who fully believed in at least the minimum number of messages by the total number of respondents (include those who answered “does not know” for one or more messages; exclude respondents with missing or refused answers). Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

This data can be disaggregated by gender, age group and other criteria relevant to the context of your intervention.

1) Improving the believability of the promoted messages should be addressed through pre-testing (see guidance below) before the SBC communication activities start. The main purpose of collecting the data after the activities were implemented is to gain more representative information on how trustworthy the messages are from the target audience’s point of view – an important factor influencing whether people act upon the messages.

 

2) If you have a use for such data (i.e. can act upon them), consider asking the respondents who “do not believe” for the main reasons of their mistrust.

 

3) Ensure that each question focuses on only one claim about the promoted behaviour, as the respondent might believe one claim but not another (for example, do not say “Mothers! Giving your babies only breastmilk during the first six months of life is easy and keeps them healthy!")

 

4) In addition to the overall indicator value, report separately for each message the proportions of respondents who "fully" and "partially" believed it.

Also consider using the following indicators:

• Understanding of the Promoted Messages (assesses whether people correctly understand what the messages ask them to do)

• Perceived Action Efficacy (assesses belief that the promoted behaviour can achieve its intended result, rather than belief in particular messages)