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Personal, Social, and Situational Factors Influencing the Consumption of Drinking Water from Arsenic-safe Deep Tubewells in Bangladesh

Hans-Joachim Mosler
Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Ueberlandstrasse 133, P.O. Box 611, 8600 Duebendorr. Switzerland

Olivia R. Blochliger
The University of Zurich, Department of Psychology, Division of Social Psychology, Binzllluehlescrasse 14, P.O. Box 15, 8050 ZUllCh, Switzerland

Jennifer Inauen
Corresponding author:
Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Ueberlandstrasse 133, P.O. Box 611, 8600 Duebendorr. Switzerland

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater in Bangladesh poses a well-known public health threat. The aim of the present study is to investigate fostering and hindering factors of people's use of deep tubewells that provide arsenic-safe drinking water, derived from the Protection Motivation Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior. Structured personal interviews were conducted with 222 households in rural Sreenagar, Bangladesh. Multiple linear regressions were carried out to identify the most influential personal, social, and situational behavior determinants. Data revealed that social factors explained greater variance in the consumption of drinking water from deep tubewells than did situational and personal factors. In an overall regression, social factors played the biggest role. In particular, social norms seem to strongly influence deep tubewell use. But also self-efficacy and the perceived taste of shallow tubewell water proved influential. Concurrently considering other important factors, such as the most mentioned response cost (i.e., time needed to collect deep tubewell water), we propose a socially viable procedure for installing deep tubewells for the extended consumption of arsenic-safe drinking water by the Bangladeshi population.

Keywords: Bangladesh Arsenic mitigation Health-protective behaviour Protection motivation theory Theory of planned behaviour Social acceptance, Social barriers

Location: Sreenagar upazila (subdistrict) of the Munshiganj district, Bangladesh

Start Date: 00-01-2008

End Date: 00-02-2008

Program Area: Risk Management in Agriculture

Commodity: Drinking water, Arsenic, Water quality

Objectives:

To determine the personal, social, and situational factors influencing the consumption of drinking water from arsenic-safe deep tubewells in Bangladesh

Methodology:

Sample and procedures: In January and February 2008, 222 randomly selected households of Sreenagar upazila (subdistrict) of the Munshiganj district, Bangladesh, took part in personal structured interviews. The participating villages were selected by the union council based on the arsenic level in the groundwater and the availability of deep tubewells. In total, the sampling pool consisted of approximately 12,600 households. These were selected by the random-route method (Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, 2003), which means that the interviewers went to every fifth household on their way through the assigned area. The interviews were conducted with the household member responsible for the drinking water supply. No approached household refused the interview. Experienced intelviewers from the Bangladeshi sUlvey institute Data International conducted the survey after having received supplementary training by two psychology students of the University of Zurich (Switzerland), who also supervised the survey. Each interview required approximately one hour. Of the 222 respondents, 70.3% were female, with a mean age of39 years (SO = 12.2); 29.4% had never attended school; 25.7% had completed one to five years of schooling; 32.6% had completed six to 10 years, and 12.4% had completed a high school degree or higher education. The majority of interviewees were Muslim (93.7%), with the remainder being Hindu. The mean number of household members was 5.5 (SO = 2.3); 61 % of the respondents were homemakers; 9% were self-employed or business owners; 7% worked in the agricultural sector; 6% were regularly employed; 4% were unemployed, and 7% had other occupations. 2.2. Measures A structured questionnaire was specifically developed for this study. It contained a sociodemographic section and questions about water consumption and personal, social, and situational determinants of deep tubewell use. Some items were constructed following examples from previous studies: perceived severity, vulnerability, self-efficacy, and response-efficacy were formulated similarly to Martin et al. (2007), and a knowledge score was created in accordance with that employed by Paul (2004). The questionnaire was pre-tested in Bangladesh and then revised. Drinking water consumption: The dependent variable of this study is the quantity of deep tubewell water used for drinking. To assess this, respondents were asked to estimate the number of pitchers they collected from different water sources each day. Sources offered were deep tubewell, shallow tubewell, dug well, rainwater, river or canal, pond, or other. From this information, the interviewers calculated the percentage of the total number of pitchers collected per household per day from the deep tubewell. Data analysis: Data was analyzed using SPSS 15.0. First, frequencies of all variables were computed. To make the display of frequencies comparable to that of the other variables, the scaled constructs of this study were categorized. However, for all further statistical procedures, the scaled form of these constructs was used. Perceived severity, vulnerability, and self-efficacy scales were each grouped into four categories (steps of 0.75): 1-1.75 (very low) to 3.25- 4 (very high). The knowledge score was divided into five categories from 0-7 points (very low knowledge) to 24-32 points (very high knowledge).

Source of Information: Journal of Environmental Management, 91 (2010), 6-S. 1316-1323

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The fact that knowledge, awareness, and perceived vulnerability and severity did not show any influence on the use of deep tubewells does not mean these factors are not important. Rather, we distinguish these factors as preconditions for any behavior in the health sector. Deep tubewells seem to be a viable and well-accepted arsenic mitigation option. This implies that the emphasis of intervention programs should not focus mainly on the acceptance of deep tubewells, but more on their increased use. At the core of any promotion program for the use of deep tubewells, social interventions should be applied. First, the whole family, but also neighbors need to be convinced, as this is where the greatest influence is found. Furthermore, people's reservations have to be taken seriously, especially the social barri ers for women, together with improved accessibility to the deep tubewells. Combining these issues with the hindering fa ctor of time required to collect water, the following procedure for installing new deep tubewells is recommended. distribution of the tubewells at an optimal distance for most households. However, geometry should not be the lTlain criterion, as social geometry is more important. Therefore, the optimal position of the deep tubewells should be discussed and decided upon with the villagers' participation. With rega rd to social barriers for women, enclosing the location with walls or screens could be a solution. Furthermore, special opening hours of the deep tubewells, for men and woman separately, may be helpful, with the added benefit of providing an opportunity for women's social interaction. Most importantly, deep tubewells should never be constructed in front of a mosque or in crowded public places. In a next step, social influence strategies should be applied both at the family and the village level, in order to establish social norms favoring the use of deep tubewells. A possible approach may be to identify and target the opinion leader (Rogers, 2003; Mosler and Martens, 2008) in each extended family. Once convinced, the use of deep tubewells should disseminate from the opinion leader, who serves as a social model (Ba ndura, 1977) for other members of the family. Similarly, opinion leaders at the village level (Le., well-respected community members or religious lead ers) should be convinced to use the dee p tubewells. Thereby. the development of an injunctive norm for deep tubewell use can be enhanced. Convincing people to use the deep tubewells may focus on the confidence that one can act adequately to prevent arsenicosis by consuming deep tubewell water and that one is not helpless when faced with this threat. Important issues also include the taste and healthiness of shallow tubewell water compared to deep tubewell water. It should be clearly demonstrated that shallow tubewell water is not at all healthy (which is sometimes done by painting these pumps red; see Caldwell et al.. 2006). and the good taste and healthiness of the deep tubewell water should be emphasized.

Knowledge Management: Journal