Behavioural and Social Aspects
Whether the
implementation of fluoride removal filters in Ethiopia is successful depends
not only on the performance of the filter system itself, but also on its
acceptance in the population and the willingness of the people to change their
habits. Therefore a central research task in the Ethiopian Case Study is to
assess personal, social and situational factors that influence the continuous
use of fluoride removal systems.
We are planning to analyse the following factors that influence the acceptance and use of defluoridation systems:
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Personal factors |
perceived vulnerability, severity of health threat, self-efficacy, convictions, beliefs, habits concerning drinking water and involvement |
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Social factors |
social pressure, norms, cultural beliefs and tribal constraints |
| Situational factors | availability and quality of drinking water, distance to water sources and time needed for getting water |
Since the start of the project in May 2009, various surveys of households have been conducted:
- Pilot survey of household filter beneficiaries in December 2009: The aim of the pilot survey was to understand the current situation and moreover, to explore the influencing factors of filter usage and acceptance in order to apply this knowledge to the implementation of the new household filters in similar areas.
- Baseline survey of new household beneficiaries in April 2010: This survey was taken two weeks after the implementation of 110 new household filters in 4 different villages.
- Baseline survey of community filter beneficiaries in April 2010: After the inauguration of the new community filter in Weyo Gabriel, 180 households in the village were questioned about its acceptance and usage.
- Panel
survey of all household and community
filter beneficiaries (including pilot) in October 2010: This survey is a follow
up survey in order to see change over time without any promotion or
intervention activities in between.
Download questionnaires as pdf files:
Community Filter Questionnaire
Household Filter Questionnaire
Because of high illiteracy in the population, the data collection was carried out through structured interviews by a team of ten local college students, who were trained regarding bone char technology and interviewing techniques. The team is supervised by the local field manager and community facilitators during the investigations.
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Survey Results
The overall results of the household baseline survey indicate that the users of household filters have a positive attitude towards the consumption of fluoride-free water, but that they feel they do not have enough filtered water for the whole family. People seem to not fill the filter various times a day to produce enough filtered water.
The community filter baseline results showed that the consumption of fluoride-free water is mainly associated with descriptive norms. Further influential factors identified were the appeal of the treated water, the perceived price and remembering of fetching water at the community filter. Moreover, it was shown that people’s perceived vulnerability of getting fluorosis is alarmingly low.
Based on these results, a persuasion campaign was designed and all households visited by a promoter. These interventions will be evaluated in December 2010. The persuasion campaign was carried out in cooperation with the local NGO OSHO (Oromia Self Help Organisation) who trained health workers to be promoters.
Additionally, fifty selected households are being interviewed more frequently (two to four times per month) during one year in order to monitor their behaviour change and habit formation before, during and after the intervention campaigns.