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I-1 Appendix I âOverview of Strategy Development Process A strategy to change behavior (based on the integrated model shared in Chapter 1 - Figure 6) is about designing and creating an experience to change specific beliefs in individuals (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2009). There are many different kinds of experiences that can change beliefs including media campaigns, educational activities, dialogue, simulations, engaging in a behavior followed by reflection, training about new policies or practices, enforcing laws, etc. The following are the basic steps to develop a strategy. 1. Identify what beliefs to change The first step is to clearly identify what beliefs need to be changed among which groups of people. This will require assessing the existing culture and developing predictive behavioral models using surveys. These models indicate which beliefs are most predictive of the behavior as well as what sub-groups of people may need to be targeted. For example, a cultural assessment may reveal that young adult males are most likely to speed and those that do believe speeding is safe and most other people speed. This information informs the content and audience for the strategy. 2. Select a type of experience appropriate for the audience As mentioned above, there are a wide variety of experiences that can be created to change an individualâs beliefs. Several factors should be considered when selecting a type of experience including appropriateness for the intended audience, complexity of changing the belief, cost, effectiveness, available resources, and others. If the population is small and well contained (e.g., young people learning to drive), a focused experience like training in a classroom may be appropriate. If the population is large and the belief is simple, a mass media campaign may be effective. More complex beliefs may require more in-depth experiences (one-on- one counseling or small group training). Each situation is unique, and multiple experiences may be required. 3. Create experience to change beliefs
I-2 With the belief, audience and type of experience identified, next the experience needs to be created. For a media campaign, this involves developing the messages and context (images, voices, stories, etc.). For educational activities, this involves developing the curriculum. Several factors should be considered including getting the attention of audience, maintaining the attention long enough to impact thinking, creating ways to reinforce or repeat the experiences, and creating ways to actively engage the audience. Changing peopleâs beliefs is difficult and requires people to contemplate the new information and make meaning of it. This is often facilitated by conversation with others. Thus, experiences that facilitate conversations can be more effective than only passive learning. Creating experiences to change beliefs is a combination of art and science. Experts can assist depending on the type of experience. 4. Test and refine experience based on careful evaluation Research indicates many experiences created to change beliefs are ineffective. Testing and refining are critical steps in the development process. Careful design evaluation studies should be used to control for other effects that may make the experience appear to be effective when it is not (e.g., placebo effects, etc.). Critical questions to be answered include: Was the strategy able to be delivered as it was intended? Under what conditions is the strategy effective? Ineffective? How long does it take to change beliefs? How well does it reach the intended audience? Does it have any unintended consequences (among the intended audiences as well as others)? 5. Develop resources to teach others how to âdeliverâ the experiences to achieve similar results Once the strategy is developed, evaluated, refined, and shown to be effective, resources should be developed so that it can be deployed. In the case of media campaigns, this may include sequences of messages, recommended timing for placement, and duration of campaigns. For activity-based strategies (such as classroom curricula), this may include teacher guides, training materials, etc. Research has shown that maintaining fidelity during replication is important to assure similar results. Those implementing the strategy may be pressured to reduce
I-3 the amount of time required or to skip steps. The mandatory components of the strategy need to be clearly defined.
