A qualitative study of community perspectives surrounding cleaning practices in the context of Zika prevention in El Sal
- PDF / 966,815 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 66 Downloads / 128 Views
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
A qualitative study of community perspectives surrounding cleaning practices in the context of Zika prevention in El Salvador: implications for community-based Aedes aegypti control Elli Leontsini1* , Sean Maloney2, Margarita Ramírez3, Eric Rodriguez2, Tilly Gurman2, Anne Ballard Sara2 and Gabrielle C. Hunter2
Abstract Background: In El Salvador, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes transmitting Zika and other arboviruses use water storage containers as important oviposition sites. Promotion of water storage container cleaning is a key element of prevention programs. We explored community perceptions surrounding cleaning practices among pregnant women, male partners of pregnant women, and women likely to become pregnant. Methods: Researchers conducted 11 focus groups and 12 in-depth interviews which included individual elicitations of Zika prevention measures practiced in the community. Focus group participants rated 18 images depicting Zikarelated behaviors according to effectiveness and feasibility in the community context, discussed influencing determinants, voted on community intentions to perform prevention behaviors, and performed washbasin cleaning simulations. In-depth interviews with male partners of pregnant women used projective techniques with images to explore their perceptions on a subset of Zika prevention behaviors. Results: General cleaning of the home, to ensure a healthy environment, was a strong community norm. In this context, participants gave water storage container cleaning a high rating, for both its effectiveness and feasibility. Participants were convinced that they cleaned their water storage containers effectively against Zika, but their actual skills were inadequate to destroy Aedes aegypti eggs. A further constraint was the schedule of water availability. Even during pregnancy, male partners rarely cleaned water storage containers because water became available in homes when they were at work. Furthermore, prevailing gender norms did not foster male participation in domestic cleaning activities. Despite these factors, many men were willing to provide substantial support with cleaning when their partners were pregnant, in order to protect their family. (Continued on next page)
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material
Data Loading...
