Shaon Lahiri, PhD, MPH
Associate Scholar
- Postdoctoral Researcher, Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) Department | University of Pennsylvania
- Kenya | India | China | Oman
- Family Planning | intimate partner violence | PrEP uptake | Sanitation behaviors | tobacco use
Languages: English (Native), Hindi (Proficient), Bengali (Oral), French (Moderate), Arabi (Beginner)
Bio statement
I am an interdisciplinary social and behavioral scientist working on several global health issues. I approach the field from the lens of the social determinants of health, health behavior theory, and a focus on understanding common social processes across multiple health outcomes related to sanitation, mental health, tobacco use, family planning use, intimate partner violence, and HIV risk reduction. My expertise is on the influence of social norms on behavior. I am currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in the PPE program at Penn, and a PPE Postdoctoral Fellow in the Penn Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics.
Recent global health projects
Social norms around adolescent family planning in rural Kenya: estimate the influence of individual and group-level normative influence on modern contraceptive use among adolescents from two villages in rural Kenya.
Social norms around tobacco use: a systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions that aim to shift tobacco use through one or more social norms approaches.
Selected publications
Lahiri, S., Bingenheimer, J., Sedlander, E., Munar, W., & Rimal, R. (2023). The role of social norms on adolescent family planning in rural Kilifi county, Kenya. Plos one, 18(2), e0275824. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0275824
Levtov, R.G., Doyle, K., Bingenheimer, J.B., Lahiri, S., Kazimbaya, S., Karamage, E., Sayinzoga, F., Mutoni, M., Rubayita, C.H. and Barker, G., 2022. Improved Relationship Quality, Equitable Gender Attitudes, and Reduced Alcohol Abuse as Key Mechanisms to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence in the Bandebereho Couples’ Randomized Trial in Rwanda. Prevention science, 23(8), pp.1495-1506.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11121-022-01445-6
Snowden, B., Lahiri, S., Dutton, R., & Morton, L. (2022). Achieving and Sustaining Change Through Capacity Building Train-the-Trainer Health Initiatives in Low-and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, 10-1097.https://journals.lww.com/jcehp/Fulltext/9900/Achieving_and_Sustaining_Change_Through_Capacity.33.aspx
Lahiri, S., Bingenheimer, J. B., Evans, W. D., Wang, Y., Dubey, P., & Snowden, B. (2021). Social Norms Change and Tobacco Use: A Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Interventions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(22), 12186.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/12186
Sedlander, E., Bingenheimer, J. B., Lahiri, S., Thiongo, M., Gichangi, P., Munar, W., & Rimal, R. N. (2021). Does the belief that contraceptive use causes infertility actually affect use? Findings from a social network study in Kenya. Studies in family planning, 52(3), 343-359.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/sifp.12157
Last Updated: 09 March 2023