The importance of community mobilization in interventions to improve sexual, reproductive, and maternal health outcomes: A review of the evidence

ABSTRACT

Community participation, engagement, and mobilization are common components of many sexual, reproductive, and maternal health (SRMH) programs, but little consensus exists among researchers on how critical these program components are. Using principles of realist review, we reviewed a spectrum of community mobilization interventions to evaluate their use in improving five SRMH areas. Consistent with theoretical assumptions, we found that actively involving community members in leading intervention activities and/or taking ownership tends to produce better SRMH outcomes than simply relying on community members as implementers. Despite this, many fewer programs exist with this meaningful level of engagement than with more cursory engagement.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Christina Wegs for her contribution to the early stages of this review. CARE USA supported the salary costs for Christine Galavotti, CARE and Manila Consulting Group supported the salary costs for Lara Altman, and Manila Consulting Group supported the salary costs for Anne Sebert Kuhlmann.

Notes

1. EBSCO is an umbrella database through which we searched the following databases: CINAHL, Family & Society Studies Worldwide, Global Health, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Social Work Abstracts, and SocINDEX.

2. CSA is an umbrella database through which we searched the following databases: ASSIA: Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, BioOne Abstracts and Indexes, IBSS: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, PAIS International, Social Services Abstracts, and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts.