Table 3

Definition and examples of Gender-transformative programming mechanisms

Behaviour change mechanisms	Behaviour change wheel definition	Gender-transformative examples in intervention studies
Education	Increasing knowledge or understanding	Information on concepts of sexual freedom, coercion and consent, possible consequences, different contexts, situations and interactions.
Persuasion	Using communication to induce positive or negative feelings or stimulate action	Gender Dialogue Groups for women and male partner (or male family member) brought together to reflect on financial decisions and goals and sought to address household gender inequities; underscoring all sessions were messages on importance of non-violence in the home, respect and communication between men and women and value of women in the household.
Incentivisation	Creating expectation of reward	Sports, particularly weekly football matches, used as venue for dialogue and opportunity to convey gender equality workshop themes.
Coercion	Creating expectation of punishment or cost	Court-ordered requirements for attendance/participation, limitations on confidentiality, protocol around partner safety. Mandatory fee-paying.
Training	Imparting skills	Interactive teaching, small group discussion, scripting behaviour through vignettes and role plays, proverbs, songs, stories and games—to engage and facilitate skills development challenging gender-based violence (eg, norms that challenge legally permissible wife beating). Emphasised communication, assertiveness and negotiation skills requisite for practicing safer sex.
Restriction	Using rules to reduce the opportunity to engage in the target behaviour	Not available (N/A). Suggested potential example: curfew to prevent underage drinking associated with unintended teenage pregnancy.
Environmental restructuring	Changing the physical or social context	Community activities to enhance availability of dating violence services from which adolescents can seek help.
Modelling	Providing an example for people to aspire to or imitate	Programme peers or leaders, eg, sports coaches, challenging harmful normative attitudes and behaviours within community such as acceptability of violence against women and encourage positive male behaviours, such as positive parenting, that participants could identify with and emulate in their own lives. Public declaration of community leaders from within communities for abandonment of Female genital cutting.
Enablement	Increasing means/reducing barriers to increase capability or opportunity	Postintervention ‘check-in’ sessions with programme facilitators to review and support personal risk reduction goals in prevention of sexual/dating violence.
Policies
Communication/marketing	Using print, electronic, telephonic or broadcast media to convey messages to large population groups	Social marketing campaign targeted to about 3000 young people called ‘Budi muško’ or ‘Be a man’. The overall theme of campaign was to challenge rigid norms of masculinity.
Guidelines	Creating documents that recommend or mandate practice. This includes all changes to service provision	N/A. Suggested potential example: national-level support for inclusion of men in antenatal care and women’s health needs in preparation for the birth of an infant.
Fiscal	Using the tax system to reduce or increase the financial cost	N/A. Suggested potential example: tax incentives for businesses offering paternity leave.
Regulation	Establishing rules or principles of behaviour or practice	N/A. Suggested potential example: national move to mandatory relationship and sexuality education in secondary schools.
Legislation	Making or changing laws	N/A. Suggested potential example: national government level legal prohibition of child marriage.
Environmental/social planning	Designing and/or controlling the physical or social environment	N/A. Suggested potential example: federal government level provision of sufficient abortion clinics in every state to ensure nationwide access.
Service provision	Delivering a service	N/A. Suggested potential example: government level initiative to deliver community youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.