Stigma guidance
Language Selector

Note: this is a third-party automated tool and may occasionally make mistakes.

← Stigma reduction approaches Download this page as a PDF

Home visits

Home visits can be valuable in addressing stigma in the family, which can have an early impact on a child’s self-belief and self-esteem.

Stigma within the family can also be a barrier to accessing services, and can affect caregivers.

Home visits can help to understand family dynamics and engage with family members who play a role in influencing stigma. For example, in some communities it might be the mother-in-law and/or father who holds power in the family, and a home visit can create a valuable opportunity for discussion and dialogue.

Those who conduct the visits should ideally be trusted and/or can build up trust, combined with any position of power to influence and challenge beliefs.

The type of home visit will vary: there are advantages to different approaches, and how that fits your context and aims.

This approach can help to reduce:

Social stigma.   Internalised stigma.

Stigma by association

About the four types of stigma

Types of home visit

Person with a disability

This could be an inclusion champion or disability committee member to provide psycho-social and peer support, bring lived experience and act as a role model to challenge myths and stereotypes.

Teacher or volunteer

This could include a home educator, teacher or community health worker. Their role is likely to vary, but they can also explicitly engage on stigma issues with different family members, and use their position of trust.

Local leader

This could include a trusted local seller or business owner, who engages with family members and uses their position of power and trust to educate and censure cases of stigma and discrimination.

Case study 1
Home visits in Kenya and Bangladesh

In the Inclusive Futures projects in Kenya and Bangladesh (PDF) , home-based educators visited families caring for a child who was deafblind and/or had multiple disabilities.

A woman in Kenya sits on a sofa alongside four children of varying ages. They all look relaxed and are smiling.

Home visits can enable educators to engage with children and families.

They engaged with the child to improve basic life skills, to support their transition to school. They also worked with the whole family, which included addressing stigma.

A learning review identified that it is useful to be explicit about how stigma is addressed within the home, and what approaches work well and why.

It is useful to be explicit about how stigma is addressed within the home.
Inclusive Futures learning review

Case study 2
Home visits in Uganda

As part of Sightsavers’ Connecting the Dots youth economic empowerment programme in Uganda, a behaviour change strategy was developed to reduce stigma faced by young people with disabilities. The aim was to address social stigma within the community, improve the willingness of consumers to buy their products, and address internalised stigma through improving their confidence.

Home visits and community engagement were two components of this multi-faceted programme.

Rear view of a young man in Uganda using crutches. His shirt shows the slogan 'Employ the person in me, not the disability with me.'

Connecting the Dots helped to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

The programme identified that many of the young people lacked family support in establishing and running their businesses. Stigmatising beliefs included perceptions that they were ‘unproductive and valueless’, and did not deserve to own land or property. Attitudes were driven by the belief that disability is a curse on the family.

Home visits were conducted by home educators, to engage with both young people and their families. Project learning highlighted:

  • Multiple home visits were needed to support change within the family, and to monitor the impact of change
  • It was important to manage expectations of what home visits entailed
  • Young people reported more support from their families and the community
  • A longer-term evaluation was recommended to understand the sustained impact of these visits
Many of the young people lacked the support of family members in establishing and running their businesses.
Connecting the Dots programme

Case study 3
Home visits in Nigeria

The inclusive family planning programme in Nigeria has a multi-faceted approach to stigma reduction, linked to promoting greater use of family planning services for people with disabilities.

Two women in Nigeria look at papers outside. One is wearing a green headscarf, the other a bright red t-shirt.

Home visits can provide targeted information on family planning.

One element of the work at family level includes homes visits conducted by ‘dillaliyas’: well-known woman in northern Nigerian communities who traditionally go from house to house buying and selling new and used items. They have audio devices that contain messages about disability rights and access to inclusive family planning.

Other approaches to address internalised and social stigma include:

The dillaliyas, who go from house to house, have audio devices that contain messages about disability rights.
← All stigma reduction approaches