ERIC Number: EJ900676
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Oct
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1090-1981
EISSN: N/A
Social Integration and Health Behavioral Change in San Luis, Honduras
McQuestion, Michael J.; Calle, Ana Quijano; Drasbek, Christopher; Harkins, Thomas; Sagastume, Lourdes J.
Health Education & Behavior, v37 n5 p694-708 Oct 2010
This study explores the effects of social integration on behavioral change in the course of an intensive, community-based public health intervention. The intervention trained volunteers and mobilized local organizations to promote 16 key family health practices in rural San Luis, Honduras, during 2004 to 2006. A mixed methods approach is used. Standard household sample surveys were performed in 22 villages before and after the intervention. Eight villages were then resurveyed. A household survey, focus groups, and key informant interviews measured health behaviors and several social structural and psychosocial variables. The villages were then ranked on their mean behavioral and social integration scores. The quantitative and qualitative rankings were in close agreement (Kendall's coefficient of concordance = 0.707, p less than 0.001). Behaviors changed most markedly in the villages where respondents participated in local organizations, observed that others performed those behaviors, and depended on their neighbors for support. The results show that social integration conditions health behavioral change. Health interventions can be made more effective by analyzing these features a priori. (Contains 3 tables, 1 figure, and 1 note.)
Descriptors: Intervention, Social Integration, Focus Groups, Public Health, Health Behavior, Foreign Countries, Volunteers, Health Promotion, Rural Areas, Surveys, Interviews, Qualitative Research, Statistical Analysis, Behavior Change
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Honduras
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A