The BEFORE Stage

Clients need to feel motivated and inspired to access services before they will seek them out. Service providers and leaders also need to be and feel prepared for issues and concerns that clients may raise. During this phase of the Circle of Care, social and behavior change interventions help:

  • Generate demand by using local communication and media campaigns to raise awareness about services, creating visible means for potential clients and providers to address misunderstandings and knowledge gaps, and ensuring accessibility to services.
  • Create enabling environments by supporting community-provider conversations to build mutual understanding and by advocating for the removal of barriers and providing resources necessary to make services more readily available.
  • Set supportive norms by fostering the promotion of social support for services and mobilizing communities to openly discuss health issues; this can influence not just how and when clients talk about health but to whom.