Tutorial: Choosing between SBC interventions

With many possible SBC interventions to choose from, how do you decide which one to implement?

You have to consider feasibility and the likelihood of impact. During the SBC Academy by COMPASS, MAGENTA provided these tips:

The APEASE framework

APEASE provides a method to consider the feasibility of a proposed intervention.

A - Affordability: Can the intervention be financed? 

P - Practicality: Do the necessary resources exist to implement the intervention? 

E - Effectiveness: To what extent does the intervention support the achievement of policy objectives? 

A - Acceptability: Is it acceptable to the main stakeholders? 

S - Side effects/Safety: Are there any unintended side effects or safety issues? 

E - Equity: Does the burden of this intervention fall unfailty on disadvantages groups in society?

You can apply the APEASE method in a structured way, using clear criteria and scoring to compare different intervention options like this: 

Or, you could also assess interventions qualitatively using APEASE through a structured discussion with key collaborators/ stakeholders.

Reflect:

• How useful does the APEASE method seem to you in the context of your work?

• Have you already been looking at similar factors without knowing it was the APEASE method?

You can read more about APEASE here.

The IN CASE framework

IN CASE is a framework for assessing whether an action could have unexpected consequences. Many well-intentioned interventions have unpredictable side-effects. Each letter of the abbreviation IN CASE encourages you to think about a different type of of behavioural consequence.

I - Intended behaviour: What happens if the change in target behaviour is too rapid or too great? 

N - Non-target audience: How might the intervention affect audiences it was not intended for? 

C - Compensatory behaviours: How might the intervention create perverse incentives or lead people to compensate with different behaviours? 

A - Additional behaviours: What other behaviours might the intervention encourage? 

S -Signalling: What will the existence of the intervention signal to different audiences? 

E - Emotional impact: What emotions might the intervention elicit and what could the consequences be?

Here are examples from to help you understand why unintended consequences could look like:

You can read more about IN CASE and the examples above here.