Erica Sedlander, DrPH, MPH

Assistant Professor, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Institute for Health and Aging

Dr. Sedlander is a Social and Behavioral Scientist whose research examines how social norms, including gender norms, influence behavior. Dr. Sedlander and colleagues developed and validated the G-NORM, a scale measuring both descriptive and injunctive gender norms, in India. The G-NORM is currently being adapted for Nepal. Based on their qualitative research, Dr. Sedlander and colleagues also designed a social norms-based randomized controlled trial in India to increase iron supplement use among women. Dr. Sedlander conducted the impact evaluation to examine which components of the intervention had the most effect on behavior. Recently, she’s examined how the belief that contraception use causes infertility affects use in both Ethiopia and Kenya. Specifically, she examined how social network beliefs affect contraception use compared to individual beliefs. She currently directs the DMPA-SC Self-injection Learning Exchange. The aim is to aggregate and synthesize self-injection evidence across countries to inform future investments and scale up.