Caregiver social support and child toilet training in rural Odisha, India: What types of support facilitate training and how?
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Sclar GD
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9297906 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Child feces are an important source of fecal exposure in household environments. Typically, one of two behaviors is necessary to mitigate this risk: either caregivers dispose of their children's feces into a latrine or children learn how to use a latrine. Although past studies have examined factors associated with these two behaviors collectively (i.e. "safe disposal"), there is a need to separately analyze these distinctive practices to better inform programming. This study aims to quantitatively examine contextual and psychosocial factors influencing caregiver safe disposal and, separately, child latrine training. We surveyed 791 primary female caregivers, who reported on 906 children <5 years old, across 74 villages in rural Odisha, India. At their last defecation event, 38% of children used the latrine and another 10% had their feces safely disposed of into the latrine. Since caregiver safe disposal was rare, we instead assessed safe disposal intention. We used linear regression and multilevel mixed effects models to examine contextual and psychosocial factors. For contextual factors, we found caregivers had stronger safe disposal intention when they came from wealthier households and had greater informational support, but weaker intention when their latrine was near the household. Caregivers more intensely practiced latrine training with their child when they themselves used the latrine for defecation, the latrine was fully intact, and they had greater instrumental support. For psychosocial factors, caregivers had stronger safe disposal intention when their households expected them to practice safe disposal, they felt strongly committed to the behavior, and had a plan for what to do when faced with a water shortage. Caregivers more intensely taught their child how to use the latrine when they believed their child was at risk of becoming sick if they practiced open defecation (OD); viewed child OD as unbeneficial; liked teaching their child; personally felt it was important for the child's father to help; felt confident in their ability to teach their child; and had greater action control over their training practice. Interestingly, caregivers put less effort into latrine training when they felt more concerned for their child's safety when the child defecated outside. These findings underscore the critical need to separately assess unique child feces management (CFM) practices and also provide a road map for practitioners on the types of behavior change strategies to consider in their CFM programming.
| S-EPMC9462565 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Safe child feces management (CFM) is likely critical for reducing exposure to fecal pathogens in and around the home, but the effectiveness of different CFM practices in reducing fecal contamination is not well understood. We conducted a cross-sectional study of households with children <6 years in rural Odisha, India, using household surveys (188 households), environmental sample analysis (373 samples for 80 child defecation events), and unstructured observation (33 households) to characterize practices and measure fecal contamination resulting from CFM-related practices, including defecation, feces handling and disposal, defecation area or tool cleaning, anal cleansing, and handwashing. For environmental sampling, we developed a sampling strategy that involved collecting samples at the time and place of child defecation to capture activity-level fecal contamination for CFM practices. Defecating on the floor or ground, which was practiced by 63.7% of children <6 years, was found to increase E. coli contamination on finished floors (p < 0.001) or earthen ground surfaces (p = 0.008) after feces were removed, even if paper was laid down prior to defecation. Use of unsafe tools (e.g., paper, plastic bag, straw/hay) to pick up child feces increased E. coli contamination on caregiver hands after feces handling (p < 0.0001), whereas the use of safe tools (e.g., potty, hoe, scoop) did not increase hand contamination. Points of contamination from cleaning CFM hardware and anal cleansing were also identified. The most common disposal location for feces of children <6 years was to throw feces into an open field (41.6%), with only 32.3% disposed in a latrine. Several households owned scoops or potties, but use was low and we identified shortcomings of these CFM tools and proposed alternative interventions that may be more effective. Overall, our results demonstrate the need for CFM interventions that move beyond focusing solely on feces disposal to address CFM as a holistic set of practices.
| S-EPMC7031693 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundPoor child feces management (CFM) is believed to be an important source of exposure to enteric pathogens that contribute to a large disease burden in low-income settings. While access to sanitation facilities is improving, national surveys indicate that even households with latrines often do not safely dispose of their child's feces. Working with caregivers in rural Odisha, India, we co-developed an intervention aimed at improving safe disposal of child feces and encouraging child latrine use at an earlier age. We describe the rationale for the intervention and summarize the protocol for a cluster randomized trial (CRT) to evaluate its effectiveness at changing CFM practices.MethodsThe intervention consists of six behavior change strategies together with hardware provision: wash basin and bucket with lid to aid safe management of soiled nappies and a novel latrine training mat to aid safe disposal and latrine training. The intervention will be offered at the village level to interested caregivers of children < 5 years of age by a community-based organization. Following a baseline survey, 74 villages were randomly allocated to either intervention or control arm. The primary outcome is caregiver reported safe disposal of child feces after last defecation, either by the caregiver disposing of the child's feces into the latrine or the child using the latrine, measured approximately four to six months following intervention delivery. Secondary outcomes include fecal contamination of household drinking water and the childs' hands. A process evaluation will also be conducted to assess intervention fidelity and reach, and explore implementer and participant feedback.DiscussionThis study addresses a crucial knowledge gap in sanitation by developing a scalable intervention to improve safe management of child feces. The behavior change strategies were designed following the Risks, Attitudes, Norms, Abilities and Self-Regulation (RANAS) approach, which has shown to be effective for other environmental behavior change interventions in low-income settings. The latrine training mat hardware is a novel design developed cooperatively and manufactured locally. The evaluation follows a rigorous CRT study design assessing the impact of the intervention on CFM behavior change, as well as fecal contamination of two sources of potential exposure.Trial registrationThis trial is registered at ISRCTN: ISRCTN15831099.
| S-EPMC8760865 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:While women and girls face special risks from lack of access to sanitation facilities, their ability to participate and influence household-level sanitation is not well understood. This paper examines the association between women's decision-making autonomy and latrine construction in rural areas of Odisha, India. METHODS:We conducted a mixed-method study among rural households in Puri district. This included a cross sectional survey among 475 randomly selected households. These were classified as either having a functional latrine, a non-functional latrine or no latrine at all. We also conducted 17 in-depth interviews and 9 focus group discussions among household members of these three categories of households. RESULTS:Decisions on the construction of household level sanitation facilities were made exclusively by the male head in 80% of households; in 11% the decision was made by men who consulted or otherwise involved women. In only 9% of households the decision was made by women. Households where women were more involved in general decision making processes were no more likely to build a latrine, compared to households where they were excluded from decisions. Qualitative research revealed that women's non-involvement in sanitation decision making is attributed to their low socio-economic status and inability to influence the household's financial decisions. Female heads lacked confidence to take decisions independently, and were dependent on their spouse or other male family members for most decisions. The study revealed the existence of power hierarchies and dynamics within households, which constrained female's participation in decision-making processes regarding sanitation. CONCLUSIONS:Though governments and implementers emphasize women's involvement in sanitation programmes, socio-cultural factors and community and household level dynamics often prevent women from participating in sanitation-related decisions. Measures are needed for strengthening sanitation policies and effective implementation of programmes to address gender power relations and familial relationships that influence latrine adoption and use.
| S-EPMC5443550 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundEconomic evaluations of nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions are scarce, limiting assessment of their potential affordability and scalability.ObjectivesWe conducted cost-consequence analyses of 3 participatory video-based interventions of fortnightly women's group meetings using the following platforms: 1) NSA videos; 2) NSA and nutrition-specific videos; or 3) NSA videos with a nutrition-specific participatory learning and action (PLA) cycle.MethodsInterventions were tested in a 32-mo, 4-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial, Upscaling Participatory Action and Videos for Agriculture and Nutrition (UPAVAN) in the Keonjhar district, Odisha, India. Impacts were evaluated in children aged 0-23 mo and their mothers. We estimated program costs using data collected prospectively from expenditure records of implementing and technical partners and societal costs using expenditure assessment data collected from households with a child aged 0-23 mo and key informant interviews. Costs were adjusted for inflation, discounted, and converted to 2019 US$.ResultsTotal program costs of each intervention ranged from US$272,121 to US$386,907. Program costs per pregnant woman or mother of a child aged 0-23 mo were US$62 for NSA videos, US$84 for NSA and nutrition-specific videos, and US$78 for NSA videos with PLA (societal costs: US$125, US$143, and US$122, respectively). Substantial shares of total costs were attributable to development and delivery of the videos and PLA (52-69%) and quality assurance (25-41%). Relative to control, minimum dietary diversity was higher in the children who underwent the interventions incorporating nutrition-specific videos and PLA (adjusted RRs: 1.19 and 1.27; 95% CIs: 1.03-1.37 and 1.11, 1.46, respectively). Relative to control, minimum dietary diversity in mothers was higher in those who underwent NSA video (1.21 [1.01, 1.45]) and NSA with PLA (1.30 [1.10, 1.53]) interventions.ConclusionNSA videos with PLA can increase both maternal and child dietary diversity and have the lowest cost per unit increase in diet diversity. Building on investments made in developing UPAVAN, cost-efficiency at scale could be increased with less intensive monitoring, reduced startup costs, and integration within existing government programs. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as ISRCTN65922679.
| S-EPMC9535442 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 aims to end open defecation by 2030 by ensuring universal access to private household toilets. However, private toilets might not be feasible for poor households. As a result, policy makers and academics have suggested well-managed shared sanitation facilities as an alternative solution. Less is known about the associations between shared sanitation use and health. Using data from the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey from 2019 to 2021, we estimated the association between usual defecation location and child anthropometry outcomes among children under 2 years in India. The primary exposure was usual defecation location at the household level. We compared both shared improved toilet use and open defecation to private, improved toilet use. We used linear regression to estimate the associations between the exposures and linear outcomes: height-for-age Z-score, weight-for-height Z-score, and weight-for-age Z-score. We used Poisson regression with a log link to estimate the prevalence ratios of stunting, wasting, and underweight. After controlling for environmental, maternal, socioeconomic, and child confounders, we found no differences in six child anthropometry outcomes when comparing shared toilet use or open defecation to private toilet use. This finding was consistent across both urban and rural households. Our findings confirm the null associations between private toilet use and child growth found in previous studies, and that this association does not vary if the toilet is being shared. Future research should examine these differences between private and shared toilets in the context of other health outcomes.
| S-EPMC10077020 | biostudies-literature
Project description:While latrine coverage is increasing in India, not all household members use their latrines. Cost-effective, culturally appropriate, and theory-informed behavior change interventions are necessary to encourage sustained latrine use by all household members. We qualitatively examined community perceptions of sanitation interventions broadly, along with specific impressions and spillover of community-level activities of the Sundara Grama latrine use behavior change intervention in rural Odisha, India. We conducted sixteen sex-segregated focus group discussions (n = 152) in three intervention and three nonintervention villages and thematically analyzed the data. We found Sundara Grama was well-received by community members and considered educative, but perceptions of impact on latrine use were mixed and varied by activity. Intervention recruitment challenges prevented some, such as women and households belonging to lower castes, from attending activities. Spillover occurred in one of two nonintervention villages, potentially due to positive relations within and between the nonintervention village and nearby intervention village. Community-level sanitation initiatives can be hindered by community divisions, prioritization of household sanitation over community cleanliness, and perceptions of latrine use as a household and individual issue, rather than common good. Community-centered sanitation interventions should assess underlying social divisions, norms, and perceptions of collective efficacy to adapt intervention delivery and activities.
| S-EPMC7345262 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Women's empowerment has been promoted by researchers and development practitioners as one of the most promising strategies to address widespread hunger and malnutrition. However, the relationship between women's empowerment and dietary diversity and child nutrition has rarely been studied among vulnerable populations or individuals at greater risk of poor physical and social health status. Moreover, the effects of different domains of women's empowerment on nutritional outcomes, including dietary diversity and child anthropometry, have rarely been examined, especially with panel data. Using two rounds of panel data from 1900 households and fixed effects regression models, we analyze the effect of women's empowerment on household dietary diversity score (HDDS) and child anthropometry among the particularly vulnerable tribal groups in Odisha, India. We also estimate the effects of various decision-making domains of women's empowerment on HDDS and child anthropometry to understand which empowerment domains matter for nutrition. Results show that women's empowerment is positively associated with HDDS (coef. 0.41 food groups; p < 0.1) and reduces the prevalence of underweight (coef. 39%; p < 0.05) and wasting (coef. 56%; p < 0.1) in children but has no effect on the prevalence of child stunting. Women's empowerment in agricultural input use; output sales; income; food purchases; and credit, group membership, and employment contribute to improved dietary diversity and child nutrition. We conclude that women's empowerment contributes to improved dietary diversity and child nutrition and is a promising strategy to improve farm household diets and child nutrition among vulnerable populations. Strengthening women's empowerment through the promotion of women's access to land and other agricultural inputs, market participation, access to information, capital, and credit is important.
| S-EPMC11302906 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Latrine access alone may be insufficient to encourage households to dispose of young children's feces safely in a latrine, and little is known about the determinants of improved child feces disposal. We used longitudinal data collected at up to three timepoints for children less than 5 years of age from households in Odisha, India, which received a combined household-level piped water supply and sanitation intervention, but did not specifically promote the safe disposal of child feces. Among the 85% of intervention households who reported access to improved sanitation, we characterized child defecation and feces disposal practices by age, across time, and season, and assessed determinants of improved disposal. Feces from children less than 3 years of age was commonly picked up by caregivers but disposed of unsafely with garbage into open areas (56.3% of households) or in a drain/ditch (6.2%). Although children 3 and 4 years were more likely to use a latrine than younger children, their feces was also more likely to be left in the open if they did not defecate in a latrine. For children less than 5 years of age, most (84.7%) children's feces that was safely disposed of in a latrine was because of the children defecating in the latrine directly. Significant predictors for disposing of child feces in an improved latrine were the primary female caregiver reporting using a latrine to defecate, the child's age, and water observed at place for handwashing. These findings suggest that child feces interventions should focus on encouraging children to begin using a toilet at a younger age and changing the common behavior of disposing of young child's feces into open areas.
| S-EPMC6447099 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesHIV infection places children at neurodevelopmental risk; for young children in poverty, risk is compounded by compromised caregiving quality. The mediational intervention for sensitizing caregivers (MISC) program trained caregivers on fostering daily interactions with young children. We hypothesized that MISC could enhance neurodevelopment of rural Ugandan HIV-infected children and improve mental health outcomes of their caregivers, which might mediate improved caregiving quality.DesignA randomized trial of HIV-infected young children (ages 2-5 years) and their female caregivers; cluster randomization was to MISC or a nutrition curriculum.SettingA total of 18 geographic clusters in rural Uganda.Study participantsChildren and caregivers were evaluated at baseline, 6 months, 1 year, and 1-year post-training.Main outcome measuresMullen Scales of Early Learning, the Color-Object Association Test for memory, the Early Childhood Vigilance Test of attention, and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function for the children. Caregivers completed measures of depression and anxiety symptoms and daily functioning.ResultsMISC had a significant impact on postintervention receptive language (adjusted mean difference = 3.13, 95% confidence interval 0.08, 6.18) that persisted at 1-year follow-up. MISC caregivers reported significantly less functional impairment postprogram (adjusted mean difference = -0.15, 95% confidence interval -0.28, -0.01). Other outcomes were NS.ConclusionBoth intervention conditions resulted in improvements in the study children over time. MISC showed additional impacts on child language and caregiver well-being. Future directions that include assessing the extent enhanced language development resulting from improved caregiving may better prepare impoverished children for school.
| S-EPMC7906824 | biostudies-literature