Determinants of exclusive consumption of fluoride-free water: a cross-sectional household study in rural Ethiopia

Abstract

Aim The occurrence of high fluoride concentrations in the ground-and surface water all over the world leads to the risk of developing dental and skeletal fluorosis. In Ethiopia, 8 million people depend on water sources with excessive fluoride. In four project areas in the Ethiopian Rift Valley, fluoride removal household filters based on bone char media have been implemented. This study examines possible predictors of consuming filtered water derived from various behavior change theories. Subject and methods In a complete cross-sectional survey, 160 filter users were interviewed through structured face-toface interviews. A logistic regression was carried out to reveal factors predicting consumption of filtered water. ResultsThe results show that the consumption of fluoridefree water is mainly related to people's pride in offering filtered water to guests (status norm) and the feeling of being able to produce enough water with the filter (perceived behavioral control). Moreover, the study showed that the more filter users like the taste of filtered water and the more expensive they perceive the filter media, the more likely users will exclusively consume filtered water (attitudinal beliefs). Furthermore, perceiving the act of filling as a matter of habit (perceived habit) enhances filtered water consumption.Conclusion Based on the results, possible intervention strategies to change the influential psychological factors and, hence, increase the consumption of treated water can be designed.

Acceptance and Use of Eight Arsenic-Safe Drinking Water Options in Bangladesh

“…The present study provides insights into people’s acceptance. Importantly, in line with previous research on safe water consumption [31], [32], it was shown that the RANAS factors reliably differentiate between users and non-users of arsenic-safe water options. In the following, we will discuss the psychological factors that were found favorable or unfavorable for the acceptance of each safe water option (Table 4), as well as possible interventions to increase acceptance.…”

Enhancing arsenic mitigation in Bangladesh: Findings from institutional, psychological, and technical investigations

“…These studies further revealed the importance of commitment to the use of safe water (Inauen and Mosler, 2013;Inauen et al, 2013c). In summary, in line with previous research on safe water consumption (Huber et al, 2012;Huber and Mosler, 2013;Kraemer and Mosler, 2012;Tamas and Mosler, 2011;Tobias and Berg, 2011) these studies indicate that more committed persons, who perceive safe water collection as more typical, have higher confidence in their abilities to collect safe water, find safe water collection less time consuming and effortful, and who perceive more approval from others to collect arsenic-safe water are more likely to use arsenicsafe water options.…”

Social-cognitive factors mediating intervention effects on handwashing: a longitudinal study

“…Most of the questionnaire items were derived from the RANAS approach (Mosler, 2012) and previous studies (Contzen & Mosler, 2013;Huber et al, 2012;. Some of the factors of the RANAS were measured both regarding stool-and food-related handwashing separately (see below).…”