Water Treatment Practices and Misperceived Social Norms among Women Living with Young Children in Rural Uganda.

Access to water safe for consumption is critical for health and well-being, yet substantial structural barriers often necessitate household action to make water safer. Social norms about water treatment practices are understudied as a driver of personal water treatment practice. This study assesses reported and perceived water treatment practices among women in a rural, water insecure setting. We used cross-sectional data from a population-based study of women living with children under 5 years old across eight villages in southwest Uganda. Participants reported their typical household water treatment practices and what they perceived to be the common practices among most other women with young children in their own village. Modified multivariable Poisson regression models estimated the association between individual behavior and perceptions. Of 274 participants (78% response rate), 221 (81%) reported boiling water and 228 (83%) reported taking at least one action to make water safer. However, 135 (49%) misperceived most women with young children in their village not to boil their water, and 119 (43%) misperceived most to take no action. Participants who misperceived these norms were less likely to practice safe water treatment (e.g., for boiling water, adjusted relative risk = 0.80; 95% CI 0.69-0.92, P = 0.002), adjusting for other factors. Future research should assess whether making actual descriptive norms about local water treatment practices visible and salient (e.g., with messages such as "most women in this village boil their drinking water") corrects misperceived norms and increases safe water treatment practices by some and supports consistent safe practices by others.

Adverse childhood experiences, alcohol consumption, and the modifying role of social participation: population-based study of adults in southwestern Uganda.

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include multiple forms of child maltreatment, including abuse and neglect, as well as other forms of household dysfunction. Studies from Uganda have revealed a high prevalence of child abuse, as well as one of the highest levels of alcohol consumption in Africa. Few population-based studies from Africa have estimated associations between ACEs and adult alcohol use, or assessed the potential buffering effects of social participation. Methods: This cross-sectional, population-based study was conducted in a rural parish in southwestern Uganda between 2016 and 2018. We assessed self-reported ACEs using a modified version of the Adverse Childhood Experiences - International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) scale. We measured heavy alcohol consumption using a 3-item scale previously validated in this population. We measured social participation using a 10-item scale eliciting participants' membership and participation in different community groups over the past two months. We fitted multivariable Poisson regression models to estimate the associations between ACEs and heavy alcohol consumption, and to assess for the potential buffering effects of social participation. Results: We estimated statistically significant associations between the total ACE score and heavy alcohol consumption (adjusted relative risk [ARR] per ACE=1.17; 95% CI, 1.09-1.25; P ≤0.001). Social participation had a statistically significant moderating effect on the association between total ACE score and heavy alcohol consumption (P=0.047 for interaction): the estimated association between total ACE score and heavy alcohol consumption among study participants who did not participate in a community group was larger, with a narrower confidence interval (ARR=1.21 per ACE; 95% CI, 1.11-1.33; P<0.001), while the estimated association among study participants who did participate in a community group was smaller and less precisely estimated (ARR=1.12 per ACE; 95% CI, 1.02-1.24; P=0.02). Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate an association between ACEs and heavy alcohol consumption behavior among adults in rural Uganda. The adverse effects of ACEs were buffered in part by social participation. To prevent or reduce harmful alcohol use behaviors among adults, it is important to address the chronic stress caused by ACEs.

Normative vs personal attitudes toward persons with HIV, and the mediating role of perceived HIV stigma in rural Uganda.

BACKGROUND: HIV stigma has well-documented negative impacts on HIV testing, transmission risk behavior, initiation of and adherence to antiretroviral therapy, and retention in care. We sought to assess the extent to which anticipated HIV stigma is based on misperceptions of normative attitudes toward persons with HIV, and to determine whether persons with HIV have stronger misperceptions compared with HIV-negative persons or persons of unknown serostatus. We also sought to estimate the association between normative attitudes about persons with HIV and personal attitudes about persons with HIV, and to determine the extent to which anticipated stigma mediates this association. METHODS: We conducted a whole-population survey of 1776 persons living in 8 rural villages in southwestern Uganda. Negative attitudes toward persons with HIV, and anticipated stigma, were measured using a newly validated 15-item scale measuring multiple dimensions of HIV stigma, including social distance, blaming attitudes, and concerns about reciprocity. We used multivariable regression to estimate the association between normative attitudes about persons with HIV and personal attitudes toward persons with HIV, and to determine the extent to which perceptions of normative attitudes (anticipated stigma) mediated this association. RESULTS: Study participants believed that negative attitudes toward persons with HIV were more pervasive than they actually are. Perceptions of the extent to which these negative attitudes are normative mediated more than one-third of the association between normative attitudes and their personal attitudes. In contrast to what we originally hypothesized, persons with HIV were less likely to misperceive these norms and perceived normative attitudes to be less stigmatizing than did others in the general population. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions designed to accurately describe normative attitudes toward persons with HIV may reduce HIV stigma without directly focusing on the educational components that are typically embedded in anti-stigma interventions.

Correlates of attendance at community engagement meetings held in advance of bio-behavioral research studies: A longitudinal, sociocentric social network study in rural Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Community engagement is central to the conduct of health-related research studies as a way to determine priorities, inform study design and implementation, increase recruitment and retention, build relationships, and ensure that research meets the goals of the community. Community sensitization meetings, a form of community engagement, are often held prior to the initiation of research studies to provide information about upcoming study activities and resolve concerns in consultation with potential participants. This study estimated demographic, health, economic, and social network correlates of attendance at community sensitization meetings held in advance of a whole-population, combined behavioral, and biomedical research study in rural Uganda. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Research assistants collected survey data from 1,630 adults participating in an ongoing sociocentric social network cohort study conducted in a rural region of southwestern Uganda. These community survey data, collected between 2016 and 2018, were linked to attendance logs from community sensitization meetings held in 2018 and 2019 before the subsequent community survey and community health fair. Of all participants, 264 (16%) attended a community sensitization meeting before the community survey, 464 (28%) attended a meeting before the community health fair, 558 (34%) attended a meeting before either study activity (survey or health fair), and 170 (10%) attended a meeting before both study activities (survey and health fair). Using multivariable Poisson regression models, we estimated correlates of attendance at community sensitization meetings. Attendance was more likely among study participants who were women (adjusted relative risk [ARR]health fair = 1.71, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.32 to 2.21, p < 0.001), older age (ARRsurvey = 1.02 per year, 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.02, p < 0.001; ARRhealth fair = 1.02 per year, 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.02, p < 0.001), married (ARRsurvey = 1.74, 95% CI, 1.29 to 2.35, p < 0.001; ARRhealth fair = 1.41, 95% CI, 1.13 to 1.76, p = 0.002), and members of more community groups (ARRsurvey = 1.26 per group, 95% CI, 1.10 to 1.44, p = 0.001; ARRhealth fair = 1.26 per group, 95% CI, 1.12 to 1.43, p < 0.001). Attendance was less likely among study participants who lived farther from meeting locations (ARRsurvey = 0.54 per kilometer, 95% CI, 0.30 to 0.97, p = 0.041; ARRhealth fair = 0.57 per kilometer, 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.86, p = 0.007). Leveraging the cohort's sociocentric design, social network analyses suggested that information conveyed during community sensitization meetings could reach a broader group of potential study participants through attendees' social network and household connections. Study limitations include lack of detailed data on reasons for attendance/nonattendance at community sensitization meetings; achieving a representative sample of community members was not an explicit aim of the study; and generalizability may not extend beyond this study setting. CONCLUSIONS: In this longitudinal, sociocentric social network study conducted in rural Uganda, we observed that older age, female sex, being married, membership in more community groups, and geographical proximity to meeting locations were correlated with attendance at community sensitization meetings held in advance of bio-behavioral research activities. Information conveyed during meetings could have reached a broader portion of the population through attendees' social network and household connections. To ensure broader input and potentially increase participation in health-related research studies, the dissemination of research-related information through community sensitization meetings may need to target members of underrepresented groups.