The positive deviance approach: challenges and opportunities for the future
Lapping, K.; Marsh, D.R.; Rosenbaum, J.; Swedberg, E.; Sternin, J.; Sternin, M.; Schroeder, D.G.
Food and Nutrition Bulletin 23(4 Suppl): 130-137
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 0379-5721 PMID: 12503241 DOI: 10.1177/15648265020234s217Document Number: 266087
The positive deviance (PD) approach offers an alternative to needs-based approaches for development. The "traditional" application of the PD approach for childhood malnutrition involves studying children who grow well despite adversity, identifying uncommon, model practices among PD families, and designing an intervention to transfer these behaviours to the mothers of malnourished children. A common intervention for child malnutrition, the so-called "hearth," brings mothers together to practice new feeding and caring behaviours under the encouragement of a village volunteer. Hearths probably work because they modify unmeasured behavioural determinants and unmonitored behaviours, which, in turn, result in better child growth. Some health outcomes require a better understanding of behavioural determinants and are not best served by hearth-like facilitated group skills-building. We propose testing "booster PD inquiries" during implementation to confirm behavioural determinants and efficiently focus interventions. We share early experience with the PD approach for HIV/AIDS and food security. The attributable benefit of the PD approach within a programme has not been quantified, but we suspect that it is a catalyst that accelerates change through the processes of community attention getting, awareness raising, problem-solving, motivating for behavioural change, advocacy and actual adopting new behaviours. Programme-learners should consider identifying and explicitly attempting to modify the determinants of critical behaviour(s), even if the desired outcome is a change in health status that depends on multiple behaviours; measure and maintain programme quality, especially at scale; and creatively expand and test additional roles for PD within a given programme.