Predicting water consumption habits for seven arsenic-safe water options in Bangladesh

BMC Public Health

Hans-Joachim Mosler¹  Robert Tobias¹  Jennifer Inauen² 

[1] Environmental and Health Psychology, Department of Environmental Social Sciences, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology, Überlandstrasse 133, Dübendorf, 8600, Switzerland;Developmental and Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, P.O. Box 5560, Konstanz, 78457, Germany

关键词: Bangladesh;    Regression;    Arsenic-safe drinking water;    Social-cognitive predictors;    Habitual health behavior;   

Others  :  1162264
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-13-417

 received in 2013-01-09, accepted in 2013-04-19,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

In Bangladesh, 20 million people are at the risk of developing arsenicosis because of excessive arsenic intake. Despite increased awareness, many of the implemented arsenic-safe water options are not being sufficiently used by the population. This study investigated the role of social-cognitive factors in explaining the habitual use of arsenic-safe water options.

Methods

Eight hundred seventy-two randomly selected households in six arsenic-affected districts of rural Bangladesh, which had access to an arsenic-safe water option, were interviewed using structured face-to-face interviews in November 2009. Habitual use of arsenic-safe water options, severity, vulnerability, affective and instrumental attitudes, injunctive and descriptive norms, self-efficacy, and coping planning were measured. The data were analyzed using multiple linear regressions.

Results

Linear regression revealed that self-efficacy (B = 0.42, SE = .03, p < .001), the instrumental attitude towards the safe water option (B = 0.24, SE = .04, p < .001), the affective attitude towards contaminated tube wells (B = −0.04, SE = .02, p = .024), vulnerability (B = −0.20, SE = .02, p < .001), as well as injunctive (B = 0.08, SE = 0.04, p = .049) and descriptive norms (B = 0.34, SE = .03, p < .001) primarily explained the habitual use of arsenic-safe water options (R² = 0.688). This model proved highly generalizable to all seven arsenic-safe water options investigated, even though habitual use of single options were predicted on the basis of parameters estimated without these options.

Conclusions

This general model for the habitual use of arsenic-safe water options may prove useful to predict other water consumption habits. Behavior-change interventions are derived from the model to promote the habitual use of arsenic-safe water options.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Inauen et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]The millennium goals report. http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2012/English2012.pdf webcite
• [2]Amini M, Abbaspour K, Berg M, Winkel L, Hug S, Hoehn E, Yang H, Johnson C: Statistical modeling of global geogenic arsenic contamination in groundwater. Environ Sci Technol 2008, 42(10):3669-3675.
• [3]Smith AH, Steinmaus CM: Health effects of arsenic and chromium in drinking water: recent human findings. Annu Rev Public Health 2009, 30:107-122.
• [4]Hoque BA, Hoque MM, Ahmed T, Islam S, Azad AK, Ali N, Hossain M, Hossain MS: Demand-based water options for arsenic mitigation: an experience from rural Bangladesh. Public Health 2004, 118:70-77.
• [5]Milton AH, Smith W, Dear K, Ng J, Sim M, Ranmuthugala G, Lokuge K, Caldwell B, Rahman A, Rahman H: A Randomised intervention trial to assess two arsenic mitigation options in Bangladesh. J Environ Sci Health, Part A: Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng 2007, 42(12):1897-1908.
• [6]Parvez F, Chen Y, Argos M, Hussain IAZM, Momotaj H, Dhar RK, Van Geen A, Graziano JH, Ahsan H: Prevalence of arsenic exposure from drinking water and awareness of its health risks in a Bangladeshi population: results from a large population-based study. Environ Health Perspect 2006, 114(3):355-359.
• [7]Paul BK: Arsenic contamination awareness among the rural residents in Bangladesh. Soc Sci Med 2004, 59:1741-1755.
• [8]Ahmed MF, Ahuja S, Alauddin M, Hug SJ, Lloyd JR, Pfaff A, Pichler T, Saltikov C, Stute M, van Geen A: Ensuring safe drinking water in Bangladesh. Science 2006, 314:1687-1688.
• [9]Gutiérrez-Doña B, Lippke S, Renner B, Kwon S, Schwarzer R: Self-efficacy and planning predict dietary behaviors in Costa Rican and South Korean women: Two moderated mediation analyses. Appl Psychol: Health and Well-Being 2009, 1(1):91-104.
• [10]Scholz U, Keller R, Perren S: Predicting behavioral intentions and physical exercise: a test of the health action process approach at the intrapersonal level. Health Psychol 2009, 28(6):702-708.
• [11]Van Zundert RMP, Ferguson SG, Shiffman S, Engels RCME: Dynamic effects of self-efficacy on smoking lapses and relapse among adolescents. Health Psychol 2010, 29:246-254.
• [12]Huber AC, Bhend S, Mosler H-J: Determinants of exclusive consumption of fluoride-free water: a cross-sectional household study in rural Ethiopia. J Public Health 2012, 20:269-278.
• [13]Huber AC, Mosler H-J: Determining behavioral factors for interventions to increase safe water consumption: a cross-sectional field study in rural Ethiopia. Int J Environ Health Res 2012, 23(2):96-107.
• [14]Mosler H-J, Blöchliger OR, Inauen J: Personal, social, and situational factors influencing the consumption of drinking water from arsenic-safe deep tubewells in Bangladesh. J Environ Manage 2010, 91:1316-1323.
• [15]Cialdini RB: Crafting normative messages to protect the environment. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 2003, 12(4):105-109.
• [16]Bandura A: Self-efficacy: the exercise of control. New York: Freeman; 1997.
• [17]Schultz PW, Nolan JM, Cialdini RB, Goldstein NJ, Griskevicius V: The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychol Sci 2007, 18(5):429-434.
• [18]Mosler H-J: A systematic approach to behavior change interventions for the water and sanitation sector in developing countries: a conceptual model, a review, and a guideline. Int J Environ Health Res 2012, 22(5):431-449.
• [19]Schwarzer R: Modeling health behavior change: how to predict and modify the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors. Appl Psychol: Int Rev 2008, 57(1):1-29.
• [20]Brewer NT, Chapman GB, Gibbons FX, McCaul KD, Weinstein ND: Meta-analysis of the relationship between risk perception and health behavior: the example of vaccination. Health Psychol 2007, 26(2):136-145.
• [21]Floyd DL, Prentice-Dunn S, Rogers RW: A meta-analysis of research on protection motivation theory. J Appl Soc Psychol 2000, 30:407-429.
• [22]Trafimow D, Sheeran P: Some tests of the distinction between cognitive and affective beliefs. J Exp Soc Psychol 1998, 34(4):378-397.
• [23]Tobias R: Changing behavior by memory aids: a social psychological model of prospective memory and habit development tested with dynamic field data. Psychol Rev 2009, 116:408-438.
• [24]Verplanken B, Wood W: Interventions to break and create consumer habits. J Publ Pol Market 2006, 25(1):90-103.
• [25]Orbell S, Verplanken B: The automatic component of habit in health behavior: habit as cue-contingent automaticity. Health Psychol 2010, 29(4):374-383.
• [26]Verplanken B, Melkevik O: Predicting habit: the case of physical exercise. Psychol Sports and Excercise 2008, 9(1):15-26.
• [27]Inauen J, Hossain MM, Johnston RB, Mosler H-J: Acceptance and use of eight arsenic-safe drinking water options in Bangladesh. PLoS One 2013, 8(1):e53640.
• [28]Erdfelder E, Faul F, Buchner A: GPOWER: a general power analysis program. Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput 1996, 28:1-11.
• [29]Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik JHP: New sampling designs and the quality of data. Adv methodol Stat/Metodološki zvezki 2003, 19:205-217.
• [30]Verplanken B, Orbell S: Reflections on past behavior: a self-report index of habit strength. J Appl Soc Psychol 2003, 33(6):1313-1330.
• [31]Pitt MA, Myung IJ: When a good fit can be bad. Trends Cogn Sci 2002, 6(10):421-425.
• [32]Bandura A: Health promotion by social cognitive means. Health Educ Behav 2004, 31:143-164.
• [33]Prentice-Dunn S, Rogers RW: Protection motivation theory and preventive health: beyond the health belief model. Health Educ Res 1986, 1(3):153-161.
• [34]Bandura A: Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. Am Psychol 1982, 37(2):122-147.