Factors Determining Water Treatment Behavior for the Prevention of Cholera in Chad

Abstract

Abstract. Cholera is a well-known and feared disease in developing countries, and is linked to high rates of morbidity and mortality. Contaminated drinking water and the lack of sufficient treatment are two of the key causes of high transmission rates. This article presents a representative health survey performed in Chad to inform future intervention strategies in the prevention and control of cholera. To identify critical psychological factors for behavior change, structured household interviews were administered to N = 1,017 primary caregivers, assessing their thoughts and attitudes toward household water treatment according to the Risk, Attitude, Norm, Ability, and Self-regulation model. The intervention potential for each factor was estimated by analyzing differences in means between groups of current performers and nonperformers of water treatment. Personal risk evaluation for diarrheal diseases and particularly for cholera was very low among the study population. Likewise, the perception of social norms was found to be rather unfavorable for water treatment behaviors. In addition, self-reported ability estimates (self-efficacy) revealed some potential for intervention. A mass radio campaign is proposed, using information and normative behavior change techniques, in combination with community meetings focused on targeting abilities and personal commitment to water treatment.

The Recurrence of Cholera in the City of Lubumbashi: Investigation of Risk Factors for an Effective Response and Health Education Perspective

“…Regarding the treatment of water, half of the subjects surveyed (50.30%) use the treatment of drinking water while the other half do not treat it. The similar result was found in Chad where 55% of the respondents on behavioral determinants of water treatment in cholera prevention did not use water treatment [20].…”

Socioeconomic Impacts of LCD-Treated Drinking Water Distribution in an Urban Community of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

“…Onjala et al (2014) found that the choice of water treatment was significantly correlated with the quality and risk perception of water [48]. Households select the safest and most reliable source of water for drinking, buy the safest source of water from the market, or practice in-house treatment, and this is triggered by the quality perception, risk to health perception, social norms [49], and the insecurity perception [21]. In our study, the practice of in-house water treatment was significantly reduced after the use of the LCD water as their main source of drinking water at the intervention site, but 65% of households continued to practice treatment.…”

Continuation of Health Behaviors: Psychosocial Factors Sustaining Drinking Water Chlorination in a Longitudinal Study from Chad

“…The most important factors for the promotion of drinking water chlorination were risk perceptions, social norms, and self-efficacy convictions, which differed significantly between survey participants who were performing water treatment and those who were not at the time of survey (details can be found in [23]). …”

“…We examine which behavioral factors play an important role in maintaining behavior by utilizing the baseline data from [23]. To observe what changes in psychosocial factors occurred over time in different user groups, a second survey was conducted in the same study sample.…”