Ngongo Carrie Jane, Mathingau Florence Alice, Burke Heather, Brieger William, Frick Kevin, Chapman Kimberly, Breiman Robert
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nairobi, Kenya.
Int Q Community Health Educ. 2007;28(1):33-49. doi: 10.2190/IQ.28.1.d.
Ownership of household durable assets can be a useful proxy for determining relative socio-economic status in a community, but the assets that should be measured are not always unambiguous. Often the selection of asset variables has been ad hoc or not well explained in the literature. Although the benefits of conducting focus groups to design surveys are widely recognized, the use of focus groups to adapt community-specific asset indices has not previously been reported in Kenya. This article describes how focus group discussions can allow communities to express how residents value assets and distinguish relative wealth. Focus group discussions were conducted within the informal urban settlement of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants identified assets that distinguish between the poorest and the least poor in their community. They considered whether they would move away from the slum if they had the opportunity, and many would not, citing reasons ranging from loyalty to the community to greater living expenses on the outside. Local perceptions of relative poverty and mobility provide insight into how quality of life in this setting can be assessed and potentially improved. Moreover, a qualitative approach can lead to the adaptation of a community asset index for use in further research.
家庭耐用资产的所有权可以作为确定社区中相对社会经济地位的一个有用指标，但应衡量的资产并非总是明确的。资产变量的选择往往是临时决定的，或者在文献中没有得到很好的解释。尽管开展焦点小组以设计调查的好处已得到广泛认可，但在肯尼亚，此前尚未有关于利用焦点小组来调整针对特定社区的资产指数的报道。本文描述了焦点小组讨论如何能让社区表达居民对资产的重视程度以及区分相对财富的方式。焦点小组讨论在内罗毕基贝拉的城市非正规住区进行。参与者确定了能够区分其社区中最贫困者和最不贫困者的资产。他们考虑如果有机会是否会搬离贫民窟，许多人表示不会，理由从对社区的忠诚到外部更高的生活费用等不一而足。当地对相对贫困和流动性的认知为评估和潜在改善该环境下的生活质量提供了见解。此外，定性方法可促成适用于进一步研究的社区资产指数的调整。
