BEHAVIOUR CHANGE AND COMMUNICATION : - a descriptive literature review of behavior change and communication in Sub-Saharan countries

ABSTRACT Susanna Kauppi. Behavior change and communication. Descriptive literature review. 63 pages 2 appendices. Language: English. Fall 2015. Diaconia University of Applied Sciences. Master’s Degree in Global Health Care. Degree: Master of Health Care. The great majority of the diseases are preventable and human behavior plays a central role in the prevention of disease and in the maintenance. By understanding behavior and barriers of behavior change as well as used communication channels and methods it is possible to plan and implement activities which have better health outcomes. The purpose of this descriptive literature review is to describe factors which associate behavior and behavior change in the communities and to describe communication and communication methods which have been used in behavior change communication programs in developing countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of the study is to provide information about health behavior communication in community and used methods which can be utilized in behavior change campaign in developing countries. Data were collected from the scientific databases, Academic Search Premier and ProQuest, and manually from the other sources between February and August 2015. 39 researches were accepted to this review. The descriptive synthesis produced seven main themes which contained factors related behavior and behavior change and communication. Communal and personal issues, culture, education and knowledge, economy and access to goods are related to behavior and behavior change as well as way of communication. The above mentioned issues, both individual and community are interwoven to each other and therefore behavior change need to be seen in wider context. Community’s influence on behavior is stronger in comparison with the individual’s own capability to behavior change and therefore the involvement of the community from the beginning is a key issue for the success of behavior change campaigns. Various media channels can be used to deliver the message of behavior change and combination of many communication methods such as mass media and personal communication predicts better outcome