Perceived Self-Efficacy

This indicator measures the extent to which people who do not currently perform a given behaviour think that they could follow the behaviour. This measures their self-efficacy, one of the main determinants of human behaviour.

Collect the following data by conducting individual interviews with a representative sample of the target group members who do not currently practice the behaviour. To do this, you will first have to assess whether a respondent practices the behaviour or not (take advantage of the guidance available under sector-specific parts of IndiKit).

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

First, explain the behaviour you want to discuss so that the respondent clearly understands what you will be asking about. Avoid making any reference to how hard or how easy it is to practice the behaviour. Then ask the following question:

Q1: I would like to understand how confident you feel that you could [specify the behaviour; if necessary, also the time frame]. Can you please tell me whether you think that you definitely could, probably could, probably could not, or definitely could not do so?

A1: _

1) definitely could

2) probably could

3) probably could not

4) definitely could not

5) does not know

To calculate the indicator’s value, divide the number of respondents who said that they “definitely could” or “probably could” perform the given behaviour by the total number of respondents. Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Disaggregate the data by gender, age group, and any other criteria relevant to the context of your intervention.

1) It is recommended that you assess why some people do not feel confident about adopting the given behaviour. Whenever a respondent says that s/he “probably” or “definitely” could not perform the behaviour, the interviewer can ask: “Why do you feel that you can’t [specify the behaviour]?”. Such data helps you understand what prevents people from adopting the behaviour and ensure that your intervention helps them overcome such barriers.

2) Use this indicator only for behaviours that people are aware of / can imagine. Otherwise, they will not be able to say how confident they feel about performing the behaviour.

3) If you need to measure people’s confidence to perform multiple behaviours, rephrase the indicator to “% of [specify the target group] who are confident in their ability to adopt the promoted behaviours”.

4) The guidance for this indicator was adapted from RBM Partnership (2017) Malaria Social and Behavior Change Communication Indicator Reference Guide.