To measure your success and impact, we suggest a 6-step process that begins with organizational planning:
In 1963, American sociologist Erving Goffman described stigma as a mark or “attribute that is deeply discrediting” and that “reduces an individual from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one.” Since Goffman’s groundbreaking book on stigma, researchers and practitioners have applied his concepts to understand the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, the mentally ill, people living with HIV and AIDS, sex workers, and other marginalized groups.
In 2001, Link and Phelan expanded our understanding of stigma by conceptualizing stigma as a social process in which individuals are (1) labeled as different, (2) stereotyped or associated with negative attributes, (3) conceived of as an “other,” and then (4) subjected to status loss and discrimination.
In 2009, Kumar, Hessini and Mitchell expanded on these models of stigma by applying them to the specific case of abortion.
For many organizations and projects, addressing stigma may be only one component of their work. Other responsibilities such as policy advocacy and health service delivery or outreach may be the primary goals. By articulating a clear goals around addressing stigma and seeking alignment among leadership, staff, board and volunteers, organizations can help to make sure that work to address stigma is prioritized. Organizations that are working to shift culture around abortion may consider adopting all or aspects of the Culture Change Strategy Group’s vision statement to clarify their goals and show solidarity with other organizations and individuals who are committed to this work.
Most projects are trying to make change within a specific target population or audience which may be defined by geography, cultural identity, age, or the media that they consume. Specifying these targets can help shape strategies and make measuring the impact of your project much easier. For help with understanding audience you may want to use the empathy mapping tool on our project design page.
Stigma can manifest in many ways at many levels of culture. At the individual level, it can manifest as feelings of shame, experiences of judgment, and behaviors like secret keeping. Understanding which aspects of stigma can actually be affected by your project is important. Clarity about which manifestations of stigma you are trying to affect, will help with the selection of evaluation tools such as surveys, scales, and indexes.
While evaluation might seem like a final stage in project development, it is also a time to re-think or refine programs and activities. For many evaluators it’s worth looking taking a close look at the actual activities and comparing them to other strategies for culture change and taking a moment to consider the needs of your audience (see step 2) and their context. This process may strengthen your program or activities at a crucial point before data collection.
In recent years, there have been major advances in stigma measurement around abortion and other reproductive experiences. We provide a list of tools that can be used for measuring the impact of a project in the next two sections of this page.
Working with other organizations, advocates and entrepreneurs can strengthen programs to shift culture. If your goal is to address abortion stigma, the International Network for the Reduction of Abortion Discrimination and Stigma is a rich resource where you can share your insights and learn from others.
Stigma manifests on multiple levels. This diagram helps show what measurement might look like across the different levels of stigma:
Scales are essentially short surveys that have been tested and verified to make sure they are measuring stigma with precision. People have a lot of ideas about “what stigma is." Your scale should take into account these many perspectives but have the fewest questions possible. In the end, the survey reveals one score, which is the amount of stigma experienced by the respondent. Scales are useful when you want to compare stigma between groups (for example: young parents vs. older parents) or before and after an intervention.
Scales are developed by highly trained researchers and social scientists using the following process:
These scales were developed and validated by highly trained researchers and social scientists in the field of reproductive stigma. They have been peer reviewed, published in academic journals, and are available for you to use:
Scales are essentially short surveys that have been tested and verified to make sure they are measuring stigma with precision. People have a lot of ideas about “what stigma is." Your scale should take into account these many perspectives but have the fewest questions possible. In the end, the survey reveals one score, which is the amount of stigma experienced by the respondent. Scales are useful when you want to compare stigma between groups (for example: young parents vs. older parents) or before and after an intervention.
Scales are developed by highly trained researchers and social scientists using the following process:
These scales were developed and validated by highly trained researchers and social scientists in the field of reproductive stigma. They have been peer reviewed, published in academic journals, and are available for you to use:
