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Case Study: Behaviour Change Interventions

Young Journalists’ Project

What was the Behaviour/Issue to Address:

• Raise self-esteem
• Improve health literacy and subsequent health inequalities
• Gain a better understanding of teenage pregnancy and sexual health information from a young person and young parent’s perspective
• Need for young spokespeople to influence the media and communications work of the Sheffield Teenage Pregnancy Partnership, and influence the teenage pregnancy agenda
• Ultimately, long term impact on teenage pregnancy rates locally

The Audience:

• Young people, living in Sheffield, considered at-risk of high inequalities (including teenage pregnancy) and low health literacy
• Internal stakeholder groups from within Sheffield’s Teenage Pregnancy Partnership, including policy-makers, service commissioners and service delivery agents
• External stakeholder groups working within the Teenage Pregnancy arena, such as national policy-makers and service delivery agents working in other areas

Assumptions:

Involving young people as spokespeople in media and communications will help to influence social norms.

Engaging young people in activities to raise their self-esteem and aspirations will encourage them to make informed choices on relationships and sexual health issues; avoid risk-taking behaviour; delay sexual activity until they feel ready; practice safer sex when they do feel ready.

Programmes that address the substratum of perceptions young people use will change attitudes that lead to behaviour change – gender inequalities, gender and class expectations, socioeconomic disadvantage.

Providing young people with engagement opportunities enables future choices.

Audience Insight Revealed:

Young people were eager to ‘have their say’ and influence the work of professionals around teenage pregnancy and sexual health issues.

Providing young people with a positive role model to look to, raises their self-esteem and encourages them to make choices that will have a positive impact on their health and lifestyle.

Providing creative problem solving/learning can channel experience and vulnerability towards leadership.

Creating credible choices and opportunities can lead to individual and collective change.

Understanding the Situation:

• Low value opportunities can influence risk taking
• Environments that value and enrich young people’s experiences are a vital step towards changing a culture that negates young people

Consumer Behaviour Drivers:

• Peer influence
• Quality of opportunity
• Sense of belonging – being ‘right’ for me

Barriers to Change:

• Nothing makes any real difference
• Sense of not being able to see something through to the end
• Lack of confidence and self worth
• Opportunity offered not focussed on individual needs and wishes

Campaign/Intervention Objectives:

• To provide an opportunity for young people, including young parents to communicate with internal stakeholders
• To influence future developments via a pilot
• To evaluate model content and engagement potential
• To demonstrate value in opportunity to participants

Behaviour Change Objectives:

• Increase young people’s confidence to participate
• Increase participants sense of achievement and stimulate further action
• Enable young people to develop confidence and skills

Campaign Core Products:

• Week-long intensive workshop programme (Young Journalists’ Project)
• Electronic newsletter
• Project Report
• Project Report launch event

Benefits:

• Young people supported to develop useful skills, transferable to future education, employment and lifestyle
• Young people prepared for taking part in future media interviews if needed
• Comprehensive report to highlight young people’s views and perspectives on sexual health campaigns and services in the city
• Opportunity for young people to recount their experiences to internal stakeholders at launch event
• Opportunity to share learning with external stakeholders through Project Report

Results:

• 7 young people engaged in Young Journalists’ Project
• 6 internal stakeholders directly reached - through ‘meet the experts’ spots
• 350 internal stakeholders reached through the electronic newsletter
• Internal stakeholders reached through Project Report launch event
• 2 resources/campaigns evaluated by the participating young people
• 11,000 external stakeholders reached through national sector media coverage and subsequent requests for Project Report
• 5 young people have gone on to other projects linked to the Sheffield Teenage Pregnancy Partnership, including: a sexual health bus; service ‘mystery shopper’ scheme; and peer-to-peer work through the Peer Activities in Sexual Health scheme (PASH). Several have also recruited friends to take part with them

Evaluation:

Young people gave feedback at the end of the Project. Positive outcomes they reported and that were also observed by facilitators were:

• Increased self-confidence
• Increased self-esteem and aspirations
• Positive experience of team working
• Positive experience of transitional learning – routes to progress
• Increased awareness of sexual health issues and contraception
• Increased knowledge of local young-people-friendly sexual health services
• Increased knowledge of the media and creative writing
• Development of skills needed for increased health literacy
• Increased understanding of each other and their differences/motivators
• Positive impact on social norms
• Development of skills

Comments from the young people included:

“Each person on the course came from a different area and we were all different ages, so that helped to get different opinions on controversial subjects. Throughout the week we were treated with respect and as equals, I’ve learnt new things and it has made me think about what opportunities are out there for my future.”

“It makes me pleased to think our opinions count. We were able to put across our views, thoughts and advice to professionals across the city, and they’ll go in the e-bulletin [electronic newsletter] and if that helps to make services better for us and other young people, that’s great!”

The young people have offered their support for any future campaigns or projects that are facilitated through the local Teenage Pregnancy Partnership.

Conclusion:

Overall results and evaluation evidence suggest the Young Journalists’ Project was successful in delivering on all the aims and objectives set out above. Several further positive outcomes, not anticipated from the outset were also identified, such as changed perceptions and identification of positive role models within the group.

Requests for the Project Report from service delivery agents, commissioners and policy-makers nationally, suggest the potential wider impact of the consultation data gathered than anticipated.

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