DRCBehavior profiles are at the heart of Thinking BIG.

A core component of behavior integration is the Behavior Profile.  Pulling together data and field research into a Behavior Profile or Profiles (you can put together as many as you need) super-charges your ability to make your strategy and programs behavior-led, not intervention driven. And behaviors get results.  

Behavior Profile Example Behavior Profile Samples

    The Heart of Behavior Integration

    A Behavior Profile is an insight-driven way to analyze a specific behavior. The goal? Find evidence-backed routes to make smart program choices and nurture the changes you want to see in the communities you care about. Behavior Profile Screenshot

    It’s just one tool in phase one of the Think | BIG process: Focus and Analyze.  After you identify the behaviors most closely linked to your development goal, you create a Behavior Profile for each priority behavior. 

    Read on below for more details on:

    • what developing a Behavior Profile involves,
    • why a Behavior Profile is so important,
    • when you use Behavior Profiles during your program,
    • who can use Behavior Profiles, and
    • how we help you build your own Behavior Profiles.

    If you’re intrigued by the power of Behavior Profiles, check out an example Behavior Profile.

    Or maybe you’ll have more fun learning how to develop a Behavior Profile and help a mother save her son: play the Behavior Profile Game

    Need a refresher on a finished Behavior Profile?  Or new to BIG and want to see real examples?  Browse Behavior Profile samples, from nutrition, to gender-based violence, to environment and more.

    When you are ready to take the plunge and develop your own Behavior Profile, we’re here to support you.

    What does developing a Behavior Profile involve?Self-Efficacy

    A Behavior Profile is the process in phase one of BIG, Focus and Analyze, that lays out:

    • your goal,
    • a priority behavior,
    • its behavior outcome indicator,
    • a behavioral analysis of this behavior, and
    • possible strategies to encourage adoption of this priority behavior.

    Analysis covers three elements:

    1. Steps needed to practice the behavior.
    2. Factors to address influencing the behavior.
    3. Supporting actors and actions they can take to address these factors.

    Once analysis has been completed, you determine your strategies based on those steps, those factors, and those supporting actors.

    It’s a framework that helps you organize your research. That lets you analyze a priority behavior.  You can then use the analysis to choose program interventions directly tied to what is needed to change the behavior.

    A Behavior Profile lays out your pathways to change.  It puts an easy-to-read snapshot of a priority behavior’s pathways at your fingertips.

    Steps
    What steps are needed to practice this behavior?

    Behavior

    1
    Step
    2
    Step
    3
    Step
    4
    Step
    Factors
    What prevents or supports practice of the behavior?

    S    tructural
    Accessibility
    Provider competencies
    Experience
    Social
    Family and community support
    Gender
    Norms
    Internal
    Attitudes and beliefs
    Self-efficacy
    Knowledge
    Skills
    Supporting Actors
    Who must support the practice of the behavior?

    Institutional
    Policy makers
    Managers
    Logistics personnel
    Providers
    Employers
    Community
    Community leaders
    Religious leaders
    Teachers
    Household
    Family members
    Male partners

    Strategies
    How might we best focus our actions?

    Enabling Environment
    Financing
    Institutional capacity building
    Partnerships and networks
    Policies and governance
    Systems, Products and Services
    Infrastructure
    Products and technology
    Supply chain
    Quality improvement
    Demand and Use
    Advocacy
    Communication
    Collective engagement
    Skills building

    Why is a Behavior Profile important?

    Attitudes and Beliefs

    Often programs jump straight to interventions.  They give little or no thought to how those interventions impact what needs to change to encourage the behavior – the critical factors (motivators and barriers).  Without that link and understanding, you can miss the mark on influencing priority behaviors, waste resources, and make no progress.  A Behavior Profile keeps you focused on what matters most – changing critical factors to the priority behaviors and enabling the small steps needed to practice the behavior.  

     

     

     

    When do you use Behavior Profiles during your program?Family Support

    Developing Behavior Profiles is the fourth step in the process. You have already defined your goal and causes inhibiting achievement of your goal.  And you have prioritized a set of behaviors that can address those causes. 

    Using the guiding research that you gathered for these priority behaviors, you develop pathways to change (a.k.a. Behavior Profiles) for each behavior.  Your profiles will guide you toward the interventions needed to bring about change.

    Have more than three Behavior Profiles for your program?  Then we recommend that you summarize all your profiles.  Identify commonalities and synergies across behaviors to maximize the impact of, and your resources for, interventions.

    Once you have your Behavior Profiles in place, they are also used to:

    • Design your results framework and narrative strategy.
    • Think through implementation timing and order.
    • Monitor your progress and adjust as needed.
    • Review and revise yearly for stocktaking and work planning.

    Behavior Profiles really are at the heart of applying behavior integration and making your social and behavior change program successful!

    Who are Behavior Profiles for?Facility Care

    A Behavior Profile is more than just a technical analysis for staff hashing out the details of program design. They are powerful guides for a broad range of users.

    Behavior Profiles can be used by: 

    • Program Staff – to research and understand context-specific (local, regional, national) influences on behavior; and manage, monitor, and adapt programs-in-progress.
    • Strategic Planners – to craft development hypotheses; and develop targeted results frameworks.
    • Proposal Writers – to create compelling, behavior-focused narratives; reveal gaps to create research and learning agendas; and design technical strategies and interventions.
    • Donors – to showcase how funding addresses behavior inhibitors and supports through on-the-ground interventions; monitor critical outcomes; and shape initiatives using a behavioral lens.
    • Implementing Partners – to use adaptive management; and monitor and evaluate intervention outputs.

    How do we help you build your own Behavior Profiles?Provider Competencies

    When you are building your own context-specific Behavior Profile (using our online or offline tool), we have provided over 75 sample Behavior Profiles you can use in three ways:

    1. Get oriented before you start on a Behavior Profile: The sample profiles can orient you to behaviors often considered important for achieving development goals such as reducing malnutrition, controlling malaria, and strengthening governance.
    2. Use as a starting point when you are ready to create a Behavior Profile: Existing profiles can prompt you to think about what might be locally relevant and important, letting you start with a sample profile and add or delete information as you build your own.
    3. Crosscheck your process as you refine a Behavior Profile: Quickly comparing your profile to sample profiles can raise important issues that might have been overlooked or reassure a team that their context-specific profile is complete.

    We also provide an Ideas Library that can shake up your thinking on how to address your specific critical structural, social, and internal factors as it shares strategy examples from around the world on different topics.

    With BIG, you are guided through a structured process of developing a Behavior Profile so that you select the best activities to carry out for your program needs and to encourage a change in your priorities.  This focused selection leads to better behavioral outcomes and better use of your resources.