Jalloh Mohamed Falilu, Williams Ashley Rhoderick, Jalloh Mohammad Bailor, Sengeh Paul, Saquee George, Bartram Jamie
FOCUS 1000, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
Pan Afr Med J. 2018 Aug 7;30:262. doi: 10.11604/pamj.2018.30.262.13676. eCollection 2018.
Access to improved sources of drinking water remains a complex challenge in Sierra Leone and other low and middle income countries. We aimed to qualitatively examine consumer perceptions and purchasing behaviors of packaged water products in Sierra Leone.
We conducted 25 focus groups with 178 consumers and petty traders of packaged water across the four geographic regions of Sierra Leone. Discussions were recorded, transcribed, and coded into themes. The Health Belief Model guided the thematic data analysis.
Packaged water was broadly perceived as safe, accessible, and convenient. Participants who lived outside of the capital city, Freetown, were more likely to report cost as a barrier. Personal experiences with a brand moderated trust levels. Self-reported handling behaviors of PW products were generally unhygienic. There was widespread belief that packaged water keeps newborn babies healthy. Consumers desired a simple mechanism to better identify government approved PW products.
Perceived risks, benefits, barriers, self-efficacy, and reinforcing cues to action qualitatively influenced consumers' purchasing behavior of packaged water. Government regulators should provide consumers with reliable means to identify approved packaged water products. Consumer education efforts should include hygienic handling of packaged water products in order to minimize post-production contamination.
在塞拉利昂以及其他低收入和中等收入国家，获取改良后的饮用水源仍然是一项复杂的挑战。我们旨在定性研究塞拉利昂消费者对包装水产品的认知和购买行为。
我们在塞拉利昂的四个地理区域与178名包装水产品的消费者和小商贩进行了25次焦点小组讨论。讨论内容被记录、转录并编码成主题。健康信念模型指导了主题数据分析。
包装水被广泛认为是安全、易获取且方便的。居住在首都弗里敦以外的参与者更有可能将成本视为障碍。对某个品牌的个人体验会调节信任程度。自我报告的包装水产品处理行为通常不卫生。人们普遍认为包装水能让新生儿保持健康。消费者希望有一个简单的机制来更好地识别政府批准的包装水产品。
感知到的风险、益处、障碍、自我效能以及强化行动线索在质量上影响了消费者对包装水的购买行为。政府监管机构应向消费者提供识别经批准的包装水产品的可靠方法。消费者教育工作应包括对包装水产品的卫生处理，以尽量减少生产后污染。
