IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i17p10589-d897107.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Poor Mental Health Impair the Effectiveness of Complementary Food Hygiene Behavior Change Intervention in Rural Malawi?

Author

Listed:
  • Jurgita Slekiene

    (Global Health Engineering (GHE), Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT), ETH Zurich, Clausiusstrasse 37, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland)

  • Kondwani Chidziwisano

    (Centre for Water, Sanitation, Health and Appropriate Technology Development (WASHTED), Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS), Private Bag 303, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, Malawi
    Department of Environmental Health, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS), Private Bag 303, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, Malawi)

  • Tracy Morse

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Level 5 James Weir Building, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UK)

Abstract

Mental disorders have the potential to affect an individual’s capacity to perform household daily activities such as water, sanitation, and hygiene (food hygiene inclusive) that require effort, time, and strong internal motivation. However, there is limited detailed assessment about the influence of mental health on food hygiene behaviors at household level. We conducted a follow-up study to detect the effects of mental health on food hygiene behaviors after food hygiene intervention delivery to child caregivers in rural Malawi. Face-to-face interviews, based on the Risk, Attitude, Norms, Ability, and Self-regulations (RANAS) model, were conducted with 819 participants (control and intervention group) to assess their handwashing and food hygiene-related behaviors. Mental health was assessed using the validated Self-Reporting Questionnaire. Study results showed a significant negative relationship between mental health and handwashing with soap behavior ( r = −0.135) and keeping utensils in an elevated place ( r = −0.093). Further, a significant difference was found between people with good versus poor mental health on handwashing with soap behavior ( p = 0.050) among the intervention group. The results showed that the influence of the intervention on handwashing with soap behavior was mediated by mental health. Thus, integration of mental health in food hygiene interventions can result in improved outcomes for caregivers with poor mental health.

Suggested Citation

  • Jurgita Slekiene & Kondwani Chidziwisano & Tracy Morse, 2022. "Does Poor Mental Health Impair the Effectiveness of Complementary Food Hygiene Behavior Change Intervention in Rural Malawi?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-12, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:17:p:10589-:d:897107
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/17/10589/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/17/10589/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Contzen, Nadja & Meili, Iara Helena & Mosler, Hans-Joachim, 2015. "Changing handwashing behaviour in southern Ethiopia: A longitudinal study on infrastructural and commitment interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 103-114.
    2. Tracy Morse & Elizabeth Tilley & Kondwani Chidziwisano & Rossanie Malolo & Janelisa Musaya, 2020. "Health Outcomes of an Integrated Behaviour-Centred Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Food Safety Intervention–A Randomised before and after Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-19, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kondwani Chidziwisano & Elizabeth Tilley & Tracy Morse, 2020. "Self-Reported Versus Observed Measures: Validation of Child Caregiver Food Hygiene Practices in Rural Malawi," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Mindy Panulo & Kondwani Chidziwisano & Tara K. Beattie & Elizabeth Tilley & Christabel Kambala & Tracy Morse, 2022. "Process Evaluation of “The Hygienic Family” Intervention: A Community-Based Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Project in Rural Malawi," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-19, June.
    3. Monica Nzanga & Mindy Panulo & Tracy Morse & Kondwani Chidziwisano, 2022. "Adherence to Hand Hygiene among Nurses and Clinicians at Chiradzulu District Hospital, Southern Malawi," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-11, September.
    4. Tracy Morse & Kondwani Chidziwisano & Elizabeth Tilley & Rossanie Malolo & Save Kumwenda & Janelisa Musaya & Sandy Cairncross, 2019. "Developing a Contextually Appropriate Integrated Hygiene Intervention to Achieve Sustained Reductions in Diarrheal Diseases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-17, August.
    5. Friedrich, Max N.D. & Kappler, Andreas & Mosler, Hans-Joachim, 2018. "Enhancing handwashing frequency and technique of primary caregivers in Harare, Zimbabwe: A cluster-randomized controlled trial using behavioral and microbial outcomes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 66-76.
    6. YuJung Julia Lee & Tiffany Radcliff, 2021. "Community interactions and sanitation use by the urban poor: Survey evidence from India’s slums," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(4), pages 715-732, March.
    7. Jonathan Lilje & Hans-Joachim Mosler, 2016. "Continuation of Health Behaviors: Psychosocial Factors Sustaining Drinking Water Chlorination in a Longitudinal Study from Chad," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-20, November.
    8. Harter, Miriam & Inauen, Jennifer & Mosler, Hans-Joachim, 2020. "How does Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) promote latrine construction, and can it be improved? A cluster-randomized controlled trial in Ghana," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    9. Hugo Legge & Shahana Fedele & Florian Preusser & Patrycja Stys & Papy Muzuri & Moritz Schuberth & Robert Dreibelbis, 2022. "Urban Water Access and Use in the Kivus: Evaluating Behavioural Outcomes Following an Integrated WASH Intervention in Goma and Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-15, January.
    10. Yunho Ji & Won Seok Lee & Joonho Moon, 2023. "Café Food Safety and Its Impacts on Intention to Reuse and Switch Cafés during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Starbucks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-11, February.
    11. Aaron Lawson & Marie Vaganay-Miller, 2019. "The Effectiveness of a Poster Intervention on Hand Hygiene Practice and Compliance When Using Public Restrooms in a University Setting," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-12, December.
    12. Limbani R. Kalumbi & Chisomo Thaulo & Eleanor E. MacPherson & Tracy Morse, 2020. "Perspectives and Practices on Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene from a Fishing Community along Lake Malombe, Southern Malawi," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-17, September.
    13. Inauen, Jennifer & Lilje, Jonathan & Mosler, Hans-Joachim, 2020. "Refining hand washing interventions by identifying active ingredients: A cluster-randomized controlled trial in rural Zimbabwe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    14. Watson, Julie & Cumming, Oliver & MacDougall, Amy & Czerniewska, Alexandra & Dreibelbis, Robert, 2021. "Effectiveness of behaviour change techniques used in hand hygiene interventions targeting older children – A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    15. Anna E. Gamma & Jurgita Slekiene & Hans-Joachim Mosler, 2019. "The Impact of Various Promotional Activities on Ebola Prevention Behaviors and Psychosocial Factors Predicting Ebola Prevention Behaviors in the Gambia Evaluation of Ebola Prevention Promotions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-18, June.
    16. Kim Dockx & Hans Van Remoortel & Emmy De Buck & Charlotte Schelstraete & An Vanderheyden & Tiene Lievens & John Thomas Kinyagu & Simon Mamuya & Philippe Vandekerckhove, 2019. "Effect of Contextualized Versus Non-Contextualized Interventions for Improving Hand Washing, Sanitation, and Health in Rural Tanzania: Study Design of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-12, July.
    17. Arielle Sandrine Rafanomezantsoa & Claudia Coral & Narilala Randrianarison & Christoph Kubitza & Denis Randriamampionona & Harilala Andriamaniraka & Stefan Sieber & Sarah Tojo-Mandaharisoa & Jonathan , 2023. "Identifying nutrition-sensitive development options in Madagascar through a positive deviance approach," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(2), pages 519-534, April.
    18. Robert Dreibelbis & Anne Kroeger & Kamal Hossain & Mohini Venkatesh & Pavani K. Ram, 2016. "Behavior Change without Behavior Change Communication: Nudging Handwashing among Primary School Students in Bangladesh," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:17:p:10589-:d:897107. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.