TY - JOUR
T1 - Community perspectives on Zika virus disease prevention in Guatemala
T2 - A qualitative study
AU - Leontsini, Elli
AU - Maloney, Sean
AU - Ramírez, Margarita
AU - Mazariegos, Luisa María
AU - Chávez, Elisa Juárez
AU - Kumar, Diana
AU - Parikh, Priya
AU - Hunter, Gabrielle C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Zika virus, which is transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and through sexual transmission, disproportionally affects the human fetus. Guatemala experienced a surge of Zika cases beginning in 2016. We conducted a qualitative study of community perceptions of the seriousness of Zika, as well as the effectiveness, feasibility, and collective efficacy of Zika prevention actions. Free listing elicited the preventive actions salient for 68 participants comprising pregnant women, men with a pregnant partner, and women likely to become pregnant; 12 focus group discussions in a highland and a lowland town explored other concepts through rank orderings of prevention practices depicted on cards. Participants' initial concern about Zika, based on recent experience with chikungunya and high media coverage, diminished because of its mild symptoms and reduced media coverage. Participants identified more than 32 salient preventive actions, many of which are considered effective by programs. Participants ranked water storage container cleaning and regular unspecified cleaning of the house and its surroundings as highly effective, feasible, and of high collective efficacy; however, the actions lacked the specificity needed to effectively destroy mosquito eggs. Community-level removal of tires and discarded containers had lower collective efficacy than household-level implementation because of the municipal and community cooperation needed. Condom use, although salient for Zika prevention, was hindered by gender roles. The findings indicate space for increasing self-efficacy for condom use among fathers-to-be, abandoning nonspecific terms such as “cleaning” and “standing water,” increasing people's skills in using bleach as an ovicide, and promoting antenatal care and family planning counseling.
AB - Zika virus, which is transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and through sexual transmission, disproportionally affects the human fetus. Guatemala experienced a surge of Zika cases beginning in 2016. We conducted a qualitative study of community perceptions of the seriousness of Zika, as well as the effectiveness, feasibility, and collective efficacy of Zika prevention actions. Free listing elicited the preventive actions salient for 68 participants comprising pregnant women, men with a pregnant partner, and women likely to become pregnant; 12 focus group discussions in a highland and a lowland town explored other concepts through rank orderings of prevention practices depicted on cards. Participants' initial concern about Zika, based on recent experience with chikungunya and high media coverage, diminished because of its mild symptoms and reduced media coverage. Participants identified more than 32 salient preventive actions, many of which are considered effective by programs. Participants ranked water storage container cleaning and regular unspecified cleaning of the house and its surroundings as highly effective, feasible, and of high collective efficacy; however, the actions lacked the specificity needed to effectively destroy mosquito eggs. Community-level removal of tires and discarded containers had lower collective efficacy than household-level implementation because of the municipal and community cooperation needed. Condom use, although salient for Zika prevention, was hindered by gender roles. The findings indicate space for increasing self-efficacy for condom use among fathers-to-be, abandoning nonspecific terms such as “cleaning” and “standing water,” increasing people's skills in using bleach as an ovicide, and promoting antenatal care and family planning counseling.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085354992&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.4269/AJTMH.19-0578
DO - 10.4269/AJTMH.19-0578
M3 - Original Article
C2 - 32100677
AN - SCOPUS:85085354992
SN - 0002-9637
VL - 102
SP - 971
EP - 981
JO - American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
JF - American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
IS - 5
ER -